ation 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.  D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED   BY  HIM   TO 

THE  LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


iUHN    L  Ai.VIN. 


/v 

,  NOV  13  1931 

JOHN  CALVIN        


The  Genevan  Reformation: 


A   Sketch. 


THOMAS  GARY  JOHNSON, 

Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  and  Polity  in  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  Richmond,  Va. 


^ 


RICHMOND,  VA.: 
The  Presbyterian  Committee  of  Publication. 


Copyrighted 

BY 

JAS.  K.  HAZEN,  Secretary  of  Publication, 
1900. 


TO 

my  Tatber  and  mother, 

AND  TO 

my  Sister, 

WHOM  God  hath  taken, 

IN  EACH  OF  WHOM  MUCH  OF  THE  PURITY,  STRENGTH  AND  SWEETNESS 

OF  Calvinism  was  incorporated, 

THIS  little  ACCOUNT  OF 

Calvin's  great  services  to  Geneva  and  the  world 
is  affectionately  dedicated. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Bibliography,    7 

CHAPTER  I. 

General  Statement. — Divisions  of  Calvin's  Life. — Origin  of  the 
Genevan  Reformation. — Its  Progress,   il 

CHAPTER  II. 
Calvin's  Childhood  and  Youth:   The  Period  of  His  Train- 
ing  UNDER  THE   PARENTAL   RoOF   AND   IN    SCHOOLS   TILL   HiS 

Sudden  Conversion  in  1532  and  Determination  to  the 
Service  of  Christianity. — Birth  and  Parentage. — His 
Education. — His  Conversion  and  Further  Education. — His 
First  Literary  Venture. — Determination  to  the  Service  of 
Christianity,    13 

CHAPTER  in. 
The  Period  of  Calvin's  Elaboration  of  the  Doctrines  of  the 
HoLY^  Scriptures,  Embodied  Chiefly  in  His  Immortal 
Institutes,  1532-1541. — Open  Break  with  the  Church  of 
Rome. — A  Wandering  Evangelist  in  France,  1533-34. — 
In  Exile  in  Basle:  The  Production  of  the  Institutes. — 
Travelling  in  Italy  and  France  under  the  Name  of  Charles 
d'  Espeville,  1535-1536. — The  Reformation  in  Geneva  Prior 
to  Calvin's  Coming,  1532-1536. — Calvin's  First  Period  in 
Geneva,  1536-1538. — Calvin  in  Strasburg. — Still  the  Head 
of  the  Genevan  Church,  1538-1541,  19 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Period  of  His  Establishment  and  Defense  of,  as  Scrip- 
tural, of  an  Order  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  Correspond- 
ing TO  His  System  of  Faith,  Which  is  Known  as  Pres- 
byterianism,  1541-1549. — Calvin's  Labors  in  this  Period. — 
Distinctive  Principles  of  Calvin's  Ecclesiastical  Polity. — His 
Struggles  with  the  Patriots  and  Libertines  in  Behalf  of  Dis- 
cipline.— The  Death  of  His  Wife  in  1549,  47 


4  Contents. 

CHAPTER  V.  p^oE. 

The  Period  of  Calvin's  Great  Controversies  Waged  with 
THE  Purpose  of  Advancing  Union  Amongst  Bodies  of 
Evangelical  Christians  and  Maintaining  the  Truth  of 
His  System,  1549-1564. — Calvin's  Labors  and  Achievements, 
1549-1564. — The  Agreement  with  the  Zurichers  on  the 
Lord's  Supper:  An  Instance  of  Calvin's  Irenical  Efforts. — 
The  Controversy  with  Servetus,  an  Illustration  of  Calvin's 
Honor  to  God's  Word  as  He  Understood  and  to  the  Unity 
of  the  Church. — Calvin's  Death. — Some  of  His  Character- 
istics,     64 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Influence  of  John  Calvin. — Not  Perpetuated  by  Impos- 
ing Tomb. — His  Influence  on  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty. — 
The  Conserving  Power  of  Calvinism  in  Protestant  Church 
Life. — Conclusion,    91 


PREFACE. 


We  offer  to  the  public,  in  the  present  form,  our  lectures 
on  John  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation,  as  given 
during  the  present  session,  1899-1900.  They  were  in- 
tended to  serve  as  a  supplement  to  class-book  instructions, 
to  correct,  as  we  see  things,  some  current  misrepresenta- 
tions, and  to  give  emphasis  to  certain  features  of  Calvin's 
teaching  and  life  adjudged  by  us  to  be  of  special  value  as 
means  to  the  enlargement  of  Christian  manhood  and  the 
production  of  holy  living.  Nevertheless,  it  is  hoped  that 
it  may  be  granted  that  we  have  fairly  called  it  a  sketch  of 
Calvin's  life  and  of  the  movement  in  Geneva  of  which  he 
was  the  heart. 

While  the  lectures  were  designed  to  meet  the  needs  of 
our  students  as  we  conceive  them,  designed  through  them 
to  affect  the  life  of  our  Southern  Zion,  we  hope  that  in- 
telligent men  in  our  church  generally,  and  in  other  Calvin- 
istic  churches  who  have  not  time  to  read  long  biographies, 
will  find  in  our  "Sketch"  a  clear  outline  of  the  "Great  John 
of  Geneva"  and  his  work ;  and  we  are  perfectly  assured 
that  the  men  of  our  day  ought  to  acquaint  themselves  with 
the  character  of  Calvin.  A  thorough  acquaintance  with 
Calvin  would  prove  a  powerful  uplifting  force  in  all  who 
love  God,  and  would  fill  with  veneration  and  awe  for  the 
majesty  of  Calvin's  character  a  large  portion  of  the  unre- 


6  Preface. 

generate  multitude,  and  that,  too,  the  nobler  portion  of  that 
multitude. 

It  is  hoped  by  some  of  our  wide-awake  pastors  that  his- 
tory classes  may  be  formed  amongst  their  young  men  and 
women  for  the  common  study  of  the  past  of  our  own  faith, 
polity,  worship  and  life,  and  thus  the  life  of  the  present 
church  be  deepened  and  broadened  by  close  contact  with 
those  great  epochs  in  the  Reformed  faith  in  which  God 
opened  the  windows  of  heaven  and  poured  out  his  bless- 
ings upon  his  waiting  church.  We  have  not  been  able  to 
throttle  the  wish  that  this  little  book  might  come  to  be  so 
used ;  and  if  that  should  happen,  we  would  undertake,  with 
the  blessing  of  God,  to  follow  it  soon  with  similar  sketches 
on  the  Reformation  in  the  Netherlands,  in  England,  and  in 
Scotland,  and  in  France. 

Finally,  we  pray  to  the  God  of  all  grace,  who  gave  John 
Calvin  to  Geneva  and  to  the  world,  to  use  these  pages  in 
creating  in  every  one  who  shall  read  them  that  supreme 
love  to  God,  that  sense  of  personal  responsibility,  that  com- 
bination of  purity,  strength  and  sweetness  which  the  Cal- 
vinistic  system,  beyond  any  other,  has  been  creating  in  the 
past.  T.  C.  J. 

Union  Theological  Seminary, 

Richmond,  Va.,  December  25,  1899. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


§  I.    Bibliography. 

I.  Sources. 


John  Calvin  :  Institutes  of  the  Christian  Religion.  Translated 
from  the  original  Latin  and  collated  with  the  author's  last 
edition  in  French.  By  John  Allen.  Third  American  edition, 
revised  and  corrected.  In  two  volumes.  8vo.  Philadelphia : 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication.  James  Russell,  Publishing 
Agent. 

John  Calvin  and  Theodore  Beza:  Tracts  Relating  to  the  Re- 
formation; With  His  Life  by  Theodore  Beza.  Translated 
from  the  original  Latin  by  Henry  Beveridge,  Esq.  Vols.  L,  IL, 
in.  8vo.  Edinburgh :  Printed  for  the  Calvin  Translation  So- 
ciety.   MDCCCXLIV. 

John  Calvin  (Bonnet)  :  Letters  of.  Compiled  from  the  Original 
Manuscripts  and  Edited  luith  Historical  Notes.  By  Dr.  Jules 
Bonnet.  Vols.  I.,  II.,  III.  Translated  from  the  original  Latin 
and  French.  Philadelphia :  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication. 
No.  821  Chestnut  Street. 

John  Calvin  :  Commentaries.  Edinburgh ;  Printed  for  the  Calvin 
Translation  Society. 

II.  Biographies,  Histories,  etc. 

Paul  Henry,  D.  D.  :  The  Life  and  Times  of  John  Calvin,  the 
Great  Reformer.  Translated  from  the  German  of  Paul  Henry, 
D.  D.,  minister  and  seminary-inspector  in  Berlin.  By  Henry 
Stebbing,  D.  D.,  F.  R.  S.  Author  of  History  of  the  Church 
and  the  Reformation,  in  Lardner's  Encyclopjedia ;  History  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  from  the  Diet  of  Augsburg;  Lives  of  the 
Italian  Poets,  etc.  In  two  volumes.  8vo.  New  York:  Robert 
Carter  &  Brothers,  No.  285  Broadway.     1851. 


8  Bibliography. 

Very  valuable  for  materials,  but  not  well  organized  and 
written  in  involved  and  prolix  style.  The  writer  admires 
Calvin,  but  depreciates  the  great  doctrine  of  predestination. 
He  does  not  understand  it.  He  brings  out  Calvin's  catho- 
licity of  spirit,  shows  the  earnestness  of  his  desires  for  the 
union  of  Protestantism,  but  misstates  the  basis  of  union  as 
Calvin  saw  it.  He  does  not  understand  Calvin's  view  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  makes  the  kinship  of  Calvinism  and 
Lutheranism  greater  than  it  was,  turns  his  "history"  into  a 
plea  for  the  support  of  the  state-union  of  the  Lutheran  and 
Reformed  Churches  in  Prussia  brought  about  in  the  first 
quarter  of  our  century.  He  does  not  understand  and  value 
aright  true  Presbyterian  or  representative  church  polity. 

Felix  Bungener  :  Calvin,  His  Life,  His  Labors,  and  His  Writings. 
Translated  from  the  French  of  Felix  Bungener.  Author  of 
History  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Edinburgh :  T.  and  T. 
Clark,  38  George  Street.  London :  Hamilton,  Adams  &  Co. 
Dublin :  J.  Robertson  &  Co.    MDCCCLXIII. 

This  is  a  popular,  but  trustworthy,  work  in  the  main. 
It  must  be  said  of  this  author  also  that  he  is  out  of  sympa- 
thy with  some  of  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  Calvinism, 
particularly  that  of  predestination,  and  that  occasionally  he 
makes  statements  which  rest  at  best  on  no  more  than  re- 
spectable tradition. 

M.  Guizot:  Great  Christians  of  France:  St.  Louis  and  Calvin. 
By  M.  Guicot,  Member  of  the  Institute  of  France.  London : 
Macmillan  &  Co.    1879. 

This  is  a  short,  popular,  readable  work.  It  is  not  in- 
tended to  be  more  than  a  sketch.  This  author  roundly  says 
that  Calvin  made  two  great  mistakes  in  his  teaching  which 
he  would  not  have  made  had  he  lived  in  our  more  en- 
lightened age.  One  of  these  mistakes  he  says  was  Calvin's 
teaching  the  doctrine  of  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  scrip- 
tures, and  the  other  his  teaching  predestination.  We  have 
always  admired  M.  Guizot's  style  as  much  as  his  judgment. 
We  believe  that  John  Calvin,  by  the  grace  of  God,  if  he 


Bibliography.  9 

were  to  appear  on  earth  again  in  the  blaze  of  nineteenth 
century  civilization  would  honor  the  word  of  God  as  much 
as  ever,  and  would  be  forced  by  facts  evident  to  his  dis- 
cernment and  intelligence  to  teach  his  doctrine  of  predesti- 
nation. 

Thomas  H.  Dyer  :  The  Life  of  John  Calvin.  London  :  John  Mur- 
ray. 1850. 

A  valuable  and  "impartial  work." 

Thomas  Smythe:  Calvin  and  His  Enemies.  Philadelphia:  Pres- 
byterian Board  of  Education. 

An  excellent  sketch.  Dr.  Smythe,  however,  commits 
himself  to  certain  subordinate  views ;  for  example,  that 
Calvin  was  ordained  in  the  usual  manner  as  a  Protestant 
minister  or  teaching  elder,  which  many  of  the  profoundest 
students  of  the  history  of  the  times  do  not  feel  free  to  do. 

Elijah  Waterman:  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writing  of  John 
Calvin,  Together  with  a  Selection  of  Letters  Written  by  Him 
and  Other  Distinguished  Reformers.     Hartford.     1813. 

Thomas  McCrie,  D.  D.  :  The  Early  Years  of  John  Calvin.  A 
Fragment.     i509-'36.    Edinburgh.     1880. 

A  fragment,  but  valuable  as  far  as  it  goes. 

Charles  W.  Shields  :  Trial  of  Servetus.  In  Presbyterian  and  Re- 
formed Review.    July,  1893. 

E.  Renan  (Frothingham  Translation)  :  John  Calvin,  in  "Studies  in 
Religious  History  and  Criticism."    New  York.     1864. 

A  brilliant  study. 

James  Anthony  Froude:  Calvinism,  an  Address  Delivered  to  the 
Students  of  St.  Andrews,  March  17,  1871,  in  His  Short  Studies 
on  Great  Subjects.    Second  series.    New  York.     1873. 

William  Cunningham  :  The  Reformers  and  the  Theology  of  the 
Reformation.    Edinburgh.     1862. 

John  Tulloch  :  Leaders  of  the  Reformation.    Edinburgh.    1839. 

Encyclopedias  :  The  Brittanica,  Johnson's  Universal,  Schaff- 
Herzog,  McClintock  &  Strong;    all  have  good  articles  on  Cal- 


10  Bibliography. 

Philip  Schaff:  John  Calvin,  His  Life  and  Character.  In  The 
Creeds  of  Christendom.  Vol.  I.,  p.  421,  et  seq.  New  York: 
Harper  Brothers.     1884. 

Philip  Schaff  :  History  of  the  Christian  Church.  By  Philip 
Schaff,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Professor  of  Church  History  in  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  New  York.  Vol.  VH.  Modern  Chris- 
tianity; The  Swiss  Reformation.  New  York:  Charles  Scrib- 
ner's  Sons.     1892. 

Not  as  sympathetic  as  the  Vol.  VI.  on  the  German  Re- 
formation, in  which  the  author  deals  at  length  with  the  life 
and  character  of  Luther;  but  still  a  most  helpful  and  in- 
forming work,  with  the  usual  characteristics  of  Dr.  Schaff 's 
style  and  method. 

Merle  D'Aubigne:  History  of  the  Reformation  in  Europe  in  the 
Time  of  Calvin. 

By  a  great  admirer  of  Calvin,  a  true  disciple  of  the  re- 
formers, a  man  of  brilliant  literary  gifts.  It  is  the  work  of 
a  great  advocate,  very  fraught  with  interest  and  instruc- 
tion, though  at  times  one-sided. 

George  P.  Fisher,  D.  D.  :  History  of  the  Reformation.  New 
York :    Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 

A  work  of  accuracy,  cool  judgment,  and  prevalent  im- 
partiality. 

LuDwiG  Hausser  (Sturge's)  :  The  Period  of  the  Reformation, 
I577~i648.     New  York:    Robert  Carter  &  Brothers. 

Remarkable  for  insight  into  the  contemporary  politics ; 
but  marked  by  want  of  sympathetic  appreciation  in  the 
treatment  of  Calvin  and  Calvinism. 


JOHN   CALVIN  AND  THE  GENEVAN 
REFORMATION. 


CHAPTER  I. 
General  Statement. 

§  2.     Divisions  of  Calvin's  Life. 

John  Calvin  was  the  great  constructive  genius  of  the 
Reformation  period;  he  was  the  father  and  head  of  the 
Reformation  movement  in  the  second  generation  of  re- 
formers ;  and  he  gave,  by  the  good  help  of  God,  soHdity 
and  enduring  persistence  to  the  movement. 

His  Hfe  falls  naturally  into  four  periods,  viz.,  First,  that 
of  his  childhood  and  youth,  the  period  of  his  training  under 
the  parental  roof  and  in  various  schools,  until  his  "sudden 
conversion"  under  the  incitement  of  God's  word  and  the 
operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  1 509-1 532;*  second,  that  of 
his  elaboration  of  the  doctrine  of  the  holy  scriptures,  chiefly 
embodied  in  his  immortal  "Institutes,"  1 532-1 541 ;  third, 
that  of  his  establishment  in  Geneva  and  vindication  from 
the  scriptures  of  an  order  of  ecclesiastical  government  cor- 
responding to  his  system  of  faith,  which  is  known  as  Pres- 
byterianism,  1541-1549;  fourth,  that  of  his  great  contro- 
versies waged  with  the  hope,  not  only  of  preserving  the 
truths  in  his  system  of  faith  and  polity,  but  of  favoring 
Christian  union  among  evangelical  Christians,  1 549-1 564. 

*  This  date  is  not  perfectly  certain.  It  is  certain,  however,  that 
a  little  after  the  middle  of  the  year  1533  Calvin  was  an  advocate  of 
the  persecuted  reformers. 


12  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

§  3-    Origin  of  the  Genevan  Reformation;  its  Progress. 

Calvin  has  not  the  honor  indeed  of  having  begun  the 
Reform  movement  in  Geneva.  His  labors  there  did  not 
begin  until  1536,  at  which  time  the  city  had  already  form- 
ally adopted  the  Reformation.  The  credit  of  instituting 
the  movement  for  reform  in  Geneva  must  be  given  to  the 
impulsive,  rash,  but  ingenuous  and  noble,  William  Farel 
and  his  helpers  between  1532  and  1536;  but  the  work  of 
securing,  maintaining  and  perfecting  the  Reformation 
called  for  a  man  of  larger  gifts  than  those  possessed  by 
Farel  or  any  of  his  earlier  co-workers.  Calvin  was  the  man 
needed.  Pressed  with  all  the  stern  zeal  of  an  Old  Testa- 
ment prophet  by  Farel  into  the  conduct  of  the  struggle  in 
Geneva,  Calvin  at  once  became  the  real  head  and  heart  of 
the  movement.  Henceforth,  while  he  lived,  even  through 
his  period  of  exile,  the  history  of  John  Calvin  includes  the 
history  of  Geneva.  He  was  at  once  the  embodiment  and 
highest  exponent  of  its  excellences  and  the  inveterate  foe, 
warring  ever  against  its  evils.  He  was  also  much  more. 
His  history  is,  in  a  large  sense,  the  history  of  Reformed 
Christendom  of  his  day,  in  all  its  religious,  moral  and  po- 
litical forthputtings. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Calvin's  Childhood  and  Youth  :  The  Period  of  His 
Training  under  the  Parental  Roof  and  in  Schools 
Till  His  Sudden  Conversion  in  1532,  and  Determi- 
nation TO  THE  Service  of  Christianity. 

§  4.     Birth  and  Parentage. 

John  Calvin  was  born  July  10,  1509,  at  Noyon,  a  ca- 
thedral town  in  the  northern  province  of  Picardy  in  France. 
His  father  was  Gerard  Cauvin,  a  man  who  occupied  a  po- 
sition of  considerable  prominence  in  his  region,  being  dis- 
trict attorney  for  his  county,  secretary  to  the  Bishop  of 
Noyon,  and  proctor  of  the  chapter  of  the  diocese.  He  was 
a  man  of  harsh  and  austere  character,  but  honored  and 
favored  by  the  most  distinguished  families  of  his  district. 
Gerard  Cauvin  was  the  son  of  a  cooper  by  trade  of  the 
village  of  Pont  I'Eveque.  As  he  had  lifted  himself  in  the 
social  and  civil  scale,  so  he  was  desirous  of  doing  for  his 
children.  The  priesthood  has  always  been  looked  upon  by 
the  poor  but  aspiring  as  an  avenue  to  ease  and  distinction. 
Naturally,  therefore,  Gerard  destined  his  boys  to  the  priest- 
hood. His  wife,  Jeanne  Lanfranc,  of  Cambrai,  noted  for 
beauty  and  piety,  was  ready  enough,  no  doubt,  to  unite  with 
her  ambitious  husband  in  giving  her  sons  to  the  church. 
Accordingly,  the  two  brothers  of  John  Calvin  who  grew 
up  were  educated  for  clergymen  and  became  chaplains  in 
the  Romish  Church,  and  John  was  for  some  years  also  des- 
tined by  his  father  to  the  priesthood. 

Gerard's  day  was  the  day  of  pluralities,  absenteeism,  and 
all  irregularities  in  the  filling  of  ecclesiastical  positions. 
"Pope  Leo  X.  received  the  tonsure  as  a  boy  of  seven,  was 
made  archbishop  in  his  eighth,  and  cardinal-deacon  in  his 


14  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

thirteenth  year  (with  the  reservation  that  he  should  not 
put  on  the  insignia  of  his  dignity  nor  discharge  the  duties 
of  his  office  till  he  was  sixteen),  besides  being  canon  in 
three  cathedrals,  rector  in  six  parishes,  prior  in  three  con- 
vents, abbot  in  thirteen  additional  abbeys,  and  bishop  of 
Amalfi,  deriving  revenues  from  them  all."  *  Gerard  was, 
therefore,  doing  the  regular  irregular  thing  when  in  John's 
twelfth  year  he  secured  for  him  a  part  of  the  revenue  of  a 
chaplaincy  in  the  cathedral  of  Noyon,  and  when  in  his  son's 
eighteenth  year  he  secured  for  him  the  additional  charge  of 
S.  Martin  de  Marteville.  True  he  was  not  of  canonical  age, 
he  had  to  hire  a  priest  to  officiate  in  his  place,  but  he  had 
received  the  tonsure,  looked  toward  the  priesthood,  and  on 
the  income  of  these  places  he  could  pursue  his  studies  pre- 
paratory thereto. 

§  5.     His  Education. 

His  early  education  was  with  the  children  of  the  noble 
family  of  Mommor.  With  the  younger  members  of  theMom- 
mor  family  also  he  was  sent  to  Paris  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
or  in  the  year  1523,  to  study  the  classics  and  philosophy  in 
the  colleges  of  La  Marche  and  Montaigu.  In  La  Marche 
he  was  helpfully  impressed  by  Maturinus  Corderius,  a  man 
of  genuine  worth,  who  became  a  helper  of  Calvin  in  Geneva 
years  later.  In  the  College  of  Mont  Aigu  he  distinguished 
himself  by  his  acquisitions  in  the  grammar  course  and  in 
dialectics.  He  had  as  his  master  here  a  Spaniard  of  con- 
siderable attainments.  Four  years  were  spent  in  these  col- 
leges. They  were  years  of  earnest  study.  Calvin  was 
equally  distinguished  already  as  a  scholar  and  as  a  youth 
of  severe  morals.  He  was  a  strict  censor  of  everything 
vicious  in  himself  and  in  his  companions.  Hence  he  was 
called  by  his  fellows,  without  reproach,  "The  Accusative 
Case." 

During  this  period  he  had  been  a  Romanist  of  the  Ro- 

*  Schafif :   History  of  the  Christian  Church,  Vol.  VII.,  p.  301. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  15 

manists  and  strongly  drawn  toward  the  priesthood ;  but 
his  father,  discerning  his  wonderful  talents  and  seeing  that 
the  law  was  a  surer  road  to  wealth  and  honor,  had  changed 
his  former  purpose  and  now  directed  his  son  to  study  law. 
To  this  change  John  seems  to  have  himself  been  driven  by 
a  dissatisfaction  with  the  old  theology.  He  had  been  led 
of  late  to  the  study  of  the  scriptures  by  Peter  Robert  Olivet. 

To  study  law  Calvin  went  first  to  Orleans  to  sit  at  the 
feet  of  Petrus  Stella,  the  first  French  lawyer  of  his  time. 
Thence  he  removed  to  Bourges  and  studied  under  the 
world-famous  Alciat.  At  Orleans  he  had  studied  very 
hard,  working  late  at  night,  and  going  over  everything, 
meditating  on  and  digesting  it,  after  awaking  in  the  morn- 
ing before  arising.  He  had  been  regarded  rather  as  a 
teacher  than  a  pupil,  often  officiating  as  a  professor.  "On 
his  departure  he  was  presented  with  a  doctor's  degree  free 
of  expense  and  with  the  unanimous  consent  of  all  the  peo- 
fessors  as  a  return  for  the  services  which  he  had  rendered 
to  the  academy."  *  At  Bourges,  while  not  neglecting  law, 
he  formed  a  friendship  with  Melchior  Wolmar,  from  whom 
he  learned  Greek. 

These  three  great  professors  were  naturally  adversaries 
to  the  church.  They  knew  that  much  of  what  the  church 
taught  had  no  historical  basis,  and  French  jurists  to  that 
time  and  long  after  were  the  hereditary  antagonists  of 
Rome.  They  would  naturally  give  an  impetus  to  Calvin's 
anti-Romeward  movement. 

§  6.     His  Conversion  and  Further  Education. 

Though  occupied  with  law  and  Greek,  Calvin  was  irre- 
sistibly drawn  toward  the  study  of  theology  while  at 
Bourges.  He  studied  the  Bible  with  great  earnestness  and 
thoroughness.  Here  he  seems  to  have  been  converted.  In 
speaking  of  himself  at  this  time  he  says,  "My  conscience 
was  very  far  from  being  in  a  condition  of  certain  peace. 

*  Beza :  Life  of  John  Calvin,  p.  xxiii.  in  Calvin's  Tracts,  Vol.  I. 


i6         Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

Every  time  that  I  looked  down  into  myself  or  lifted  my 
heart  up  to  God,  such  a  supreme  horror  took  possession  of 
me  that  there  was  no  purification  or  expiation  which  could 
have  cured  me ;  and  the  more  closely  I  considered  my  own 
nature,  so  much  the  more  was  my  conscience  goaded  with 
fierce  stings,  so  that  there  remained  no  other  comfort  ex- 
cept to  deceive  myself.  But  God,  who  took  pity  upon  me, 
conquered  my  heart  and  subdued  it  to  dociUty  by  a  sudden 
conversion.  .  .  .  Having  then  received  some  taste  and 
knowledge  of  true  piety,  so  great  a  desire  was  incontinently 
kindled  in  me  to  profit  by  it  that,  although  I  did  not  entirely 
renounce  all  other  studies,  yet  I  paid  but  little  attention  to 
them."  * 

His  residence  at  Orleans  seems  to  have  been  interrupted 
by  a  visit  to  Noyon  in  the  summer  of  1531,  on  the  death  of 
his  father,  and  by  a  sojourn  at  Paris  in  the  same  year. 

§  7.     His  First  Literary  Venture. 

In  April,  1532,  Calvin  ventured  before  the  public  with 
his  first  literary  work — his  commentary  on  the  treatise  on 
"  Clemency  by  Seneca " — the  publication  of  which  re- 
duced him  to  temporary  financial  embarrassment.  In  this 
work  Calvin  appears  as  a  brilliant  humanist.  Henry,  Gui- 
zot,and  others,  attempt  to  discover  in  it  the  apologist  for  the 
Reformation ;  they  would  have  us  believe  that  the  real  mo- 
tive of  the  work  was  to  induce  Francis  I.  to  take  a  more  fa- 
vorable attitude  toward  the  reformers ;  but,  as  Bungener 
says,  ''The  author  in  his  most  confidential  letters  says  no- 
thing of  the  kind,  nor  is  there  anything  in  his  later  works,  in 
which  he  might  so  often  have  found  an  opportunity  of  re- 
calling the  true  intention  of  this.  ...  In  fact,  the  idea  at- 
tributed to  him  does  not  belong  to  his  age,  and  is  one  from 
which  no  man  is  further  than  he.  To  ask  clemency  of  a 
king  for  the  friends  of  the  reformed  faith  would,  in  his 

*  Quoted  in  Giiizot:  St.  Louis  and  Calvin,  p.  159.  Cf.  Preface 
to  the  Psalms. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  17 

eyes,  have  been  to  ask  clemency  and  compassion  for  truth — 
for  the  gospel — and  to  ascribe  to  the  king  authority  over 
God  himself."  * 

Calvin  appears  in  his  commentary  on  Seneca  as  a  Hu- 
manist. He  appears  there  as  a  very  high  one — a  moral 
zealot,  punctual,  orderly  and  conscientious  in  regard  to 
little  things  as  well  as  great  things — a  Saul  of  Tarsus.  He 
began  his  literary  effort,  with  this  book,  as  a  Humanist; 
he  was  soon  to  show  himself  as  a  Christian.  He  was  to 
come  to  love  the  religion  set  forth  by  Old  Testament 
prophets  and  New  Testament  apostles  more  than  he  loved 
letters.  In  this  respect  his  experience  was  like  that  of 
Zwingli  and  that  of  Melanchthon.  While  they  walked  in 
intellectual  light — the  intellectual  light  of  the  word  of  God 
— God  begot  them  unto  life  by  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

No  wonder  that  Rome  hates  the  open  Bible  and  that 
Protestantism  loves  the  open  Bible.  God  by  his  word  spoke 
peace  to  the  tortured  soul  of  Luther;  filled  the  cultured 
souls  of  Zwingli  and  Melanchthon  with  blood  earnestness ; 
turned  the  refined,  penetrating,  profound,  but  Pharisaic, 
genius,  John  Calvin,  into  the  greatest  Christian  of  his  day, 
the  bulwark  of  his  truth  against  all  comers,  its  propagator 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

§  8.     Determination  to  the  Service  of  Christianity. 

Calvin  had  the  world  before  him.  As  a  humanist,  a 
churchman,  or  a  lawyer,  he  might  have  made  for  himself  a 
career  of  surpassing  splendor.  His  "sudden  conversion" 
diverted  his  energies  into  an  humbler  and  grander  ave- 
nue. It  was  thus  made  his  to  be  the  greatest  interpreter 
and  exponent  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  since  the  days 
of  the  apostles. 

It  was  impossible  that  a  man  of  his  gifts  and  graces 
should  not  become  the  head  and  leader  of  the  movement 

*  Bungener :    Life  of  Calvin,  p.  24. 


i8         Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

for  reform.  People  saw  that  he  could  serve  them.  He 
says  of  himself  and  the  period  immediately  subsequent  to 
his  conversion,  "Being  of  a  shy  and  solitary  nature,  I  have 
always  loved  retirement  and  tranquillity ;  I  began,  therefore, 
to  seek  out  some  hiding  place  and  some  means  of  with- 
drawing myself  from  my  fellows ;  but,  so  far  from  attain- 
ing my  desire,  it  seemed  on  the  contrary,  as  if  every  retreat 
I  chose  in  a  remote  spot  was  at  once  converted  into  a  public 
school.  In  short,  although  it  has  always  been  my  chief 
desire  to  live  in  private  without  being  known,  yet  God  has 
led  me  hither  and  thither,  and  turned  me  in  so  many  direc- 
tions by  different  changes  that  he  never  left  me  at  peace  in 
any  place  until,  in  spite  of  my  own  desires,  he  made  me 
come  forward  and  brought  me  into  public  life."  * 

One  of  the  first  services  which  the  church  of  Calvin's  day 
needed  was  a  reconstruction  of  the  system  of  scripture 
teaching.  Luther  and  the  early  reformers  had  thrown  into 
confusion  the  Mediaeval  efforts  to  construe  this  teaching. 
The  world  was  waiting  for  some  man  to  pick  the  ele- 
ments of  truth  out  of  the  old  beliefs ;  and  out  of  them  and 
the  new  truths  brought  to  light  by  the  now  open  Bible  give 
it  a  connected  system  of  Bible  teaching.  Calvin  heard  the 
cry  of  need.  In  the  next  chapter  we  shall  sketch  his  his- 
tory as  he  attempts  to  supply  the  need. 

*  Guizot :  St.  Louis  and  John  Calvin,  p.  159.  Cf.  Preface  to  the 
Psalms. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Period  of  Calvin's  Elaboration  of  the  Doctrines 
OF  the  Holy  Scriptures  Chiefly  Embodied  in  His 
Immortal  Institutes,  1^32-41. 

§  9.     Open  Break  with  the  Church  of  Rome. 

For  a  little  while  after  Calvin's  conversion  there  ap- 
peared to  be  some  probability  of  the  French  court's  favor- 
ing reform.  The  king's  sister,  Margaret,  was  a  patroness 
of  the  new  movement.  Several  preachers  who  favored  a 
moderate  reformation  were  heard  in  the  Paris  pulpits.  The 
king,  from  political  motives  and  out  of  regard  to  his  sister, 
was  so  conciliatory  as  to  incur  the  suspicion  of  favoring 
the  Reformation.  He  even  invited  Melanchthon  to  Paris 
as  a  councillor.  Hence  Calvin,  along  with  others,  seems, 
at  this  date,  to  have  looked  for  reform  from  within  the 
church.  These  hopes  were  not  destined  to  fulfillment,  and 
Calvin  himself  helped  to  discover  their  groundlessness. 

His  friend  Nicolas  Cop  had  been  elected  rector  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  and  was  to  deliver  his  inaugural  ora- 
tion on  All  Saints'  day,  November  i,  1533.  At  his  request 
Calvin  prepared  his  oration.  This  oration  was  at  once  an 
attack  on  the  scholastic  theologians  of  the  day  as  sophists 
and  obscurantists,  and  a  plea  for  a  reformation  on  a  New 
Testament  basis.  Both  the  Sorbonne  and  the  Parliament 
regarded  this  academic  oration  as  an  attack  on  the  church. 
In  consequence  both  Cop  and  Calvin  were  forced  to  flee. 
Calvin  is  said  to  have  escaped  in  the  garb  of  a  vine-dresser 
with  a  hoe  on  his  shoulder,  after  having  been  let  down  from 
a  window  by  the  use  of  sheets. 

§  10.     A  Wandering  Evangelist  in  France,  i533-'34- 
Calvin's  flight  from  Paris  turned  out  to  the  furtherance 
of  the  gospel  in  Southern  France.    He  passed  a  large  part 


20  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

of  this  period  under  the  protection  of  Queen  Margaret  of 
Navarre  in  her  native  city  of  Angouleme.  Calvin  Hved  in 
Angouleme  with  a  weahhy  friend,  Louis  du  Tillet,  who 
was  canon  of  the  cathedral,  and  who  had  acquired  a  very 
fine  library,  containing  many  rare  and  valuable  works.  He 
taught  Tillet  Greek,  cultivated  the  friendship  of  eminent 
men,  aided  Peter  Robert  Olivet  in  the  completion  and  re- 
vision of  the  French  translation  of  the  Bible,  which  was 
published  at  Neuchatel  in  1535  with  a  preface  by  Calvin. 

From  Angouleme  he  made  excursions  to  Paris,  Orleans, 
Nerac — where  he  met  Le  Fevre  d'Etaples,  the  father  of 
French  Protestantism,  to  Poictiers — where  he  made  con- 
verts of  several  persons  of  eminence,  and  celebrated  the 
communion  of  the  Lord's  Supper  for  the  first  time  after 
the  Protestant  conception.* 

Toward  the  close  of  his  stay  at  Angouleme  Calvin,  on  a 
venturesome  visit  to  Paris,  met  for  the  first  time  Michael 
Servetus.  He  was  so  impressed  with  the  impiety  and  dan- 
ger of  his  views  that  he  was  ready  to  incur  the  risk  of  a 
semi-public  disputation  with  him.  A  time  and  place  for 
the  disputation  was  fixed.  Calvin  kept  his  appointment, 
but  Servetus  did  not  appear,  as  Calvin  reminded  him 
twenty  years  later. 

Calvin  had  resigned  his  ecclesiastical  benefices  at  Noyon 
and  Pont  I'Eveque  May  4,  1534;  he  had  thus  formally 
closed  his  connection  with  the  Church  of  Rome.  In  this 
year  he  wrote  at  Orleans  his  first  book  in  behalf  of  Protes- 
tant theology,  entitled  the  Sleep  of  the  Soul.  On  scriptural 
grounds  he  overturns  the  Anabaptist  conceit  of  the  sleep 
of  the  soul  between  death  and  the  resurrection,  and  main- 
tains the  conscious  communion  of  saints.  His  purpose  was 
to  protect  evangelical  Protestantism  from  the  charges  of 
heresy  and  vagary. 

The  outbreak  of  persecution  in  the  fall  of  1534  was  the 
occasion  of  Calvin's  leaving  his  native  land.     He  was  ac- 

*  This  rests  on  a  somewhat  uncertain  tradition. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  21 

companied  by  Louis  du  Tillet,  his  friend  and  pupil,  who 
was  to  remain  his  companion  till  August,  1537,  and  then 
return  to  his  country  and  the  Roman  Church.  Near  Metz 
they  were  robbed  by  an  unfaithful  servant.  They  reached 
Strasburg  in  destitution,  but  were  kindly  received  and 
aided,  especially  by  Bucer. 

§  II.  In  Exile  in  Basle — The  Production  of  the  Insti- 
tutes. 

After  a  short  interval  of  rest  at  Strasburg  Calvin  and  his 
friend  proceeded  to  Basle.  Here  he  was  to  secure  the  pub- 
lication of  his  immortal  "Institutes,"  in  the  year  1536.  He 
seems  to  have  completed  the  manuscript  in  August,  1535. 

The  purpose  of  this  work  he  himself  states  in  the  preface 
in  the  following  noble  words : 

"Most  mighty  and  renowned  monarch !  When  I  began 
the  composition  of  this  treatise,  I  entertained  no  thought 
of  laying  it  before  your  Majesty.  My  object  was  to  exhibit 
the  simplest  elements  of  Christianity,  and  thus  to  lead  those 
who  had  already  some  love  of  the  gospel  to  the  knowledge 
of  its  principles.  I  labored  especially  for  my  fellow  coun- 
trymen, the  French,  knowing  that  many  among  them  hun- 
ger and  thirst  after  righteousness,  while  few  only  have 
attained  to  even  a  moderate  degree  of  knowledge.  Hence 
the  unpretending  character  of  the  book.  When,  however,  I 
saw  that  certain  cruel  persecutors  possessed  such  power  in 
your  kingdom,  that  no  place  of  refuge  for  true  doctrine 
existed  any  longer,  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  should  be  ac- 
complishing a  useful  design  could  I  at  the  same  time  and 
by  the  same  means  both  instruct  them  and  make  you  ac- 
quainted with  the  nature  of  our  belief;  that  you  might 
thence  learn  the  real  character  of  that  doctrine  against 
which  those  madmen  rage  with  such  fury  and  carry  fire 
and  sword  through  your  kingdom." 

Here  Calvin  makes  the  primary  aim  of  the  "Institutes" 
to  be  the  instruction  of  his  fellow  Protestants  among  the 
French.    A  secondary  aim  was  apologetic.     Calvin,  in  his 


22         Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

preface  to  the  Psalms,  published  years  later,  enlarges  on 
this  apologetic  aim.  He  says,  "This  was  the  occasion 
which  led  to  the  ptibUcation  of  the  'Institutes.'  My  first 
object  was  to  free  my  brethren,  whose  death  is  precious  in 
the  sight  of  God,  from  a  shameful  slander;  my  next  was, 
as  many  of  our  unhappy  people  were  threatened  with  simi- 
lar cruelties,  to  excite  at  least  some  feeling  of  pity  and 
compassion  for  their  sufferings  in  other  nations." 

With  the  succeeding  editions  of  the  "Institutes"  the  pri- 
mary aim  became  more  and  more  controlling.  It  was  de- 
signed to  be  a  book  of  instruction  in  the  essential  doctrines 
of  the  gospel  for  the  people,  but  mediately,  as  it  was  de- 
signed to  be  used  immediately  by  candidates  for  the  min- 
istry in  their  training.  In  the  preface  to  the  Strasburg 
edition  of  1539  Calvin  tells  us  that  the  design  of  the  work 
was  "so  to  prepare  theological  students  for  the  reading  of 
God's  word,  that  they  might  easily  commence  their  labors." 
He  had  therefore  arranged  the  subjects  in  such  order,  and 
had  so  explained  them,  that  the  reader  might  comprehend 
without  difficulty  what  he  was  to  find  in  the  holy  scrip- 
tures, and  to  what  end  he  was  to  use  all  that  which  they 
taught  him.  "In  his  expositions  [of  the  books  of  the  Bible] 
therefore  he  had  introduced  no  long  dogmatical  investiga- 
tions. The  pious  reader  would  accordingly  be  spared  great 
annoyance  if  he  undertook  the  reading  of  this  work  with 
judgment."  He  adds,  "My  commentary  on  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans  will  explain  my  meaning  better  than  words." 

Here  we  learn  that  the  "Institutes,"  as  issued  in  the  sec- 
ond edition,  was  intended  to  serve  as  an  introduction  to  the 
study  of  the  holy  scriptures  on  the  part  of  theological  stu- 
dents, which  is  ever  the  great  end  of  systematic  theology. 

Just  here  we  come  on  the  most  conspicuous  feature  of 
the  great  system  embodied  in  the  "Institutes,"  its  thorough- 
going biblical  character.  Much  war  is  made  to-day  on 
systematic  theology.  "Biblical  theology"  is  contrasted  with 
systematic  as  if  systematic  were  not  thoroughly  biblical, 
and  some  such  systems  are  not  biblical.     The  Mediaeval 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  23 

system  builders  were  guilty  of  doing  what  present  decriers 
of  systematic  theology  charge  all  systematic  theologians 
with  having  done.  They  made  large  use  of  occasional  and 
detached  passages  of  scripture  interpreted  without  much 
regard  to  context  or  to  historical  meaning.  They  set  out 
not  to  construct  out  of  the  contents  of  Bible  teaching  a 
well-knit  system  of  truth,  but  to  prove  by  detached  passages 
the  several  parts  of  a  system  derived  from  other  than 
scriptural  sources.  Calvin's  system  is  quite  different.  He 
was  thoroughly  saturated  with  Bible  teaching.  There  was 
no  man  of  his  day  who  made  less  of  human  philosophy  or 
ecclesiastical  tradition  as  a  source  of  authority  in  religion. 
He  made  nothing  of  them.  He  accepted  the  Bible  as  the 
inspired  word  of  God.  He  put  it  in  the  place  of  the  in- 
fallible church.  It  was  to  him  the  one  source  of  authority 
in  religion.  His  systematic  theology — the  "Institutes" — 
was  an  attempt  to  organize  in  one  comprehensive  whole 
the  several  teachings  of  the  Bible  as  he  saw  them.  In  par- 
ticular, he  would  give  place  in  this  system  to  those  great 
doctrines  of  sovereign  election,  salvation  by  grace,  and  jus- 
tification by  faith  which  the  reformers  had  discovered 
anew,  or  for  the  first  time  as  taught  in  the  scriptures.  Cal- 
vin did  not,  indeed,  try  to  write  a  history  of  the  unfolding 
of  doctrine  in  the  ages  of  inspiration.  In  that  sense  his 
theology  is  not  "biblical  theology ;"  but  he  did  try  to  take 
the  Bible  teachings  and  arrange  them,  and  them  only,  into 
a  comprehensive  system ;  and  no  other  man  since  the  days 
of  the  apostles  has  done  so  much  to  give  us  a  systematic 
view  of  purely  scriptural  truth.  No  man  can  say  with 
truth  that  Calvin's  "Institutes"  were  not  intended  to  be 
such  an  attempt  at  the  systematic  exhibition  of  scripture 
truth ;  for  he  professedly  tried  to  give  such  a  work  in  the 
"Institutes;"  he  taught  that  in  its  light  the  Bible  should 
be  studied,  and  therein  invited  the  closest  comparison  of 
the  totality  of  scripture  truth  with  the  teachings  of  his 
book.  Nor  can  any  one  say  that  Calvin's  effort  was  not 
proximately  successful.     His  was  the  most  biblical  syste- 


24  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

matic  theology  of  his  day,  just  as  the  Calvino-Covenant 
theology  is  the  most  biblical  systematic  theology  of  our 
day.  It  is  far  more  biblical  than  any  so-called  "biblical 
theology"  yet  produced.  Guizot  says,  "His  book  is  only 
the  development  and  commentary  of  the  great  Christian 
truths,  facts,  dogmas  and  precepts  with  which  the  holy 
scriptures  furnished  him."  *  Philip  Schaff  says,  "  His 
whole  theology  is  scriptural  rather  than  scholastic,  and  dis- 
tinguished for  the  skillful  and  comprehensive  working  up 
of  the  teaching  of  the  Bible,  as  the  only  pure  fountain  of 
revealed  truth  and  the  infallible  rule  of  the  Christian  faith." 
.  .  .  "He  could  assert  with  truth  on  his  deathbed  that  he 
never  knowingly  twisted  or  misinterpreted  a  single  passage 
of  the  scriptures."  f 

The  first  edition  of  the  "Institutes"  was  a  short  hand- 
book containing  six  chapters,  entitled  severally,  of  the  Dec- 
alogue, of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  of 
Baptism,  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  of  the  Other  So-Called 
Sacraments,  of  Christian  Liberty,  Church  Government  and 
Discipline.  "The  second  edition  has  seventeen,  the  third 
twenty-one  chapters.  In  the  author's  last  edition  of  1559 
it  grew  to  four  or  five  times  its  original  size,  and  was 
divided  into  four  books,  each  book  into  a  number  of  chap- 
ters (from  seventeen  to  twenty-five),  and  each  chapter  into 
sections.  It  follows  in  the  main,  like  every  good  catechism, 
the  order  of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  which  is  the  order  of 
God's  revelation  as  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit.  The  first 
book  discusses  the  knowledge  of  God  the  Creator  (theology 
proper)  ;  the  second,  the  knowledge  of  God  the  Redeemer 
(Christology)  ;  the  third,  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  appli- 
cation of  the  saving  work  of  Christ  (Soteriology)  ;  the 
fourth,  the  means  of  grace,  namely,  the  church  and  the 
sacraments."  $ 

*  Guizot :    St.  Louis  and  John  Calvin,  p.  180. 

tSchaff:    Creeds  of  Christendom,  Vol.  I.,  p.  458. 

t  Schaff :   History  of  the  Christian  Church,  Vol.  VII.,  p.  334. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  25 

It  is  commonly  agreed  that  the  work  was  greatly  im- 
proved as  it  passed  through  its  numerous  editions,  and  the 
author  himself  tells  us  that  he  was  never  satisfied  with  it 
till  in  the  final  revision  and  edition  of  1559.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  as  commonly  agreed  that  in  the  first  edition  the  ele- 
ments of  the  entire  system  appeared.  The  later  additions 
were  really  expansions. 

The  following  elements  are  found  in  the  "Institutes" : 
( I )  The  ecumenical,  or  the  doctrines  of  the  Trinity  and  of 
Christology  elaborated  by  the  great  ecumenical  councils  of 
the  fourth  century  and  held  by  the  "orthodox"  Greek  and 
Latin  churches,  as  well  as  by  evangelical  Protestants.  (2) 
The  Augustinian  element,  or  those  doctrines  which  the 
great  Bishop  of  Hippo  had  deduced  from  the  scriptures, 
especially  from  the  writings  of  Paul — man's  original  up- 
rightness, the  fall,  the  consequent  total  depravity  of  all 
Adam's  natural  posterity,  their  moral  inability  to  help  them- 
selves, the  servitude  of  their  wills  to  sin,  the  necessity  of 
salvation  by  grace  if  men  are  to  be  saved  at  all,  and,  as 
corollaries,  the  doctrines  of  predestination  and  the  final 
perseverance  of  the  saints. 

Calvin  took  a  clearer  view  of  these  Bible  doctrines  than 
Augustine  was  able  to  get.  Augustine  was  in  bondage  to 
the  sacramentalism  of  his  age.  He  believed  in  the  necessity 
of  water  baptism  in  order  to  salvation,  and  he  believed  in 
the  ex  opere  operato  theory  as  to  the  efficiency  of  the  sacra- 
ments ;  he  believed  that  water  baptism  is  so  tied  to  spirit- 
ual regenerative  grace  that  every  one  really  baptized  with 
water  is  regenerated.  He  knew  only  too  well,  however, 
that  many  who  have  been  baptized  give  the  most  solid  evi- 
dence afterwards  of  being  in  a  lost  estate.  He  could  not 
hold  to  the  doctrine  of  the  perseverance  of  the  saints  there- 
fore. Instead  he  taught  that  certain  regenerate  persons 
fall  from  grace,  and  taught  only  the  perseverance  of  the 
elect.  Calvin  had  shaken  himself  so  far  free  from  the 
trammels  of  sacramentalism  that  he  could  teach  the  Bible 
doctrine  of  the  perseverance  of  saints,  or  the  regenerate. 


26         Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

(3)  Third,  the  Anselmic-Aquinas  element,  or  the  substi- 
tutionary theory  of  the  atonement,  which  Anselm  set  forth 
in  the  form  of  equivalence  and  which  Thomas  Aquinas  de- 
veloped and  modified,  giving  us  the  so-called  substitution- 
ary theory  of  the  atonement.  (4)  The  common  Protestant 
element,  including  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  the 
scriptures  the  sole  source  of  authority  in  religion,  the 
analogy  of  faith  the  great  canon  for  their  interpretation, 
the  doctrine  of  progressive  sanctification,  of  immediate 
passage,  at  death,  into  glory,  the  denial  of  purgatory,  the 
doctrine  of  the  final  judgment  with  eternal  rewards  and 
pimishments,  the  definition  of  the  church  as  two-fold — 
visible  and  invisible;  affirmation  of  the  right  of  infant 
church  membership,  notwithstanding  inability  to  give 
proper  grounds  for  administering  baptism  to  children,  as- 
sertion of  the  duty  of  the  state  to  uphold  and  protect  the 
church,  abolition  of  all  holy  days  save  Sabbath,  insufficient 
vindication  of  Sabbath,  denial  of  transubstantiation,  of 
sacrament  of  penance,  of  extreme  unction,  of  marriage  as 
a  sacrament,  etc.  (5)  The  element  common  to  Calvin  and 
Luther — the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  scriptures,*  our  jus- 
tification on  the  ground  of  Christ's  righteousness  imputed 
to  us  and  received  by  faith.  (6)  The  Zurich-Genevan- 
Anglican  element — the  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  as 
set  forth  in  the  Consensus  Tiguriniis.  (7)  The  ultramon- 
tane view  of  proper  relation  of  church  and  state  held  in 
common  with  Roman  Church.  (8)  The  distinctive  Cal- 
vinistic  element — the  Presbyterian  form  of  ecclesiastical 
polity,  and  the  emphasis  laid  on  certain  cardinal  doctrines 
of  theology,  anthropology,  soteriology  taught  for  the  most 
part  by  Augustine,  and  by  him  and  his  school  solely,  since 
the  days  of  the  apostles,  viz.,  unconditional  election,  par- 
ticular redemption,  total  depravity,  efficacious  grace,  and 
perseverance  of  the  saints. 

*  SchafiF  misrepresents  Calvin  here.  We  suppose  the  Doctor 
was  under  the  influence  of  the  time-ghost  of  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  New  York. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation,  27 

These  doctrines  are  often  spoken  of  as  distinctive  of 
Calvin's  teaching.  This  is  not  correct.  Every  one  of  them 
had  been  taught  by  devout  Bible  students  prior  to  Calvin ; 
but  the  emphasis  laid  on  them  in  Calvin's  system  does  con- 
stitute one  of  its  distinctive  features.  No  man  had  given  to 
predestination  its  proper  place  in  theology  before.  Calvin 
saw  clearly  that  it  was  involved  in  the  scriptural  doctrine  of 
God  and  necessary  to  the  honor  of  God.  He  also  realized 
quite  as  fully  as  Augustine  the  comfort  of  the  doctrine  to  a 
Christian  and  its  necessity  if  salvation  be  reaHzed  in  any 
case.  So  Calvin's  great  grasp  of  Bible  truth  enabled  him 
to  define  the  scope  of  the  redemptive  work,  the  estate  of 
moral  helplessness  into  which  man  came  by  the  fall,  and 
the  need  and  fact  of  salvation  by  grace,  and  man's  assur- 
ance of  salvation  once  he  believes,  as  they  had  never  been 
defined  before.  They  are  all  vital  doctrines  and  funda- 
mental in  the  Bible  teaching ;  and  it  is  at  once  a  great  merit 
and  a  distinctive  feature  of  Calvin's  system  that  he  brings 
these  doctrines  into  becoming  prominence. 

We  shall  say  something  further  about  Calvin's  church 
polity  in  a  succeeding  lecture. 

It  should  also  be  said  in  this  connection  that  John  Cal- 
vin's Calvinism  was  probably  broad  enough  to  include  both 
sublapsarianism  and  supralapsarianism.  It  is  said,  with 
doubtful  justice,  that  in  the  "Institutes"  he  speaks  as  a 
supralapsarian,  but  in  his  commentaries  as  a  sublapsarian ; 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  cared  to  make  the  distinction. 
It  is  unjust  therefore  to  him  to  align  him  with  either  side. 
Perhaps  he  would  have  said,  as  our  own  Dr.  Dabney  *  has 
said,  that  the  distinction  is  one  that  should  never  have  been 
made.  To  us  it  seems  certain  that  he  regarded  himself  as 
holding  the  very  ground  of  Augustine  on  this  subject. 
Historians  generally  call  Augustine  a  sub — or  an  infra — 
lapsarian.    If  Calvin  is  to  be  called  sub — or  supra — ,  then 

*R.  L.  Dabney,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. :  Syllabus  and  Notes  of  the 
Course  of  Systematic  and  Polemic  Theology,  p.  233. 


28  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

he  must  be  called  sub;  but,  we  repeat,  it  appears  that  he 
would  have  preferred  to  bear  neither  title.  The  gist  of  his 
view  in  his  own  words  is,  "Man  falls  according  to  the  ap- 
pointment of  divine  providence;  but  he  falls  by  his  own 
fault."  * 

§  12.  Travelling  in  Italy  and  France  under  the  Name 
of  Charles  d'Espeville,  1 535-1 536. 

Calvin,  after  completing  his  work  on  the  "Institutes"  in 
1535,  made  his  way  to  Italy.  He  was  probably  moved  by 
a  desire  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the  very  strongholds  of 
the  Romish  Church.  He  may  have  been  looking  for  an 
opening  for  a  more  active  life  work,  albeit  he  was  so  dis- 
inclined to  break  into  his  habits  of  study.  He  spent  some 
time  at  the  court  of  Renee,  daughter  of  Louis  XII.  of 
France,  Duchess  of  Ferrara.  He  won  many  admirers  there 
and  some  earnest  disciples.  The  most  important  of  these 
was  the  Duchess  herself. 

Calvin  remained  her  pastor  from  this  time  till  his  death 
in  1564.  He  gave  her  noble  rebukes  when  she  needed  them, 
as  in  1555  when  her  husband  forced  her  to  conform  to  the 
Romish  ceremonial ;  noble  commendation,  as  when  she 
opened  her  castle  of  Montargis  in  France,  whither  she  had 
returned,  to  the  reformers  in  1562,  and  when  she  gave  her 
haughty  refusal  to  the  summons  of  the  Duke  de  Guise  that 
she  should  give  them  up ;  and  the  noblest  consolation  pos- 
sible under  the  circumstances  after  the  death  of  her  son- 
in-law,  this  same  Duke  de  Guise. 

After  a  few  months'  stay  in  Ferrara,  persecution  arising, 
Calvin  travelled  to  several  other  points  in  North  Italy, 
everywhere  talking  and  preaching,  that  the  truth  might  be 
spread.  In  1536  he  stayed  some  weeks  with  a  family  of 
distinction  in  the  vicinity  of  Aosti;  but  alarm  was  given 
to  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities.  Measures  were 
taken  for  the  arrest  of  the  disturber.  He  escaped,  but  with 
difficulty,  having  to  traverse  dangerous  Alpine  passes. 

*  Calvin:  Institutes,  Book  III.,  Chap,  xxiii.,  Sec.  8. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  29 

Calvin  went  thence  into  France.  He  spent  some  time 
at  Noyon ;  won  to  his  views  Mary,  one  of  his  sisters,  his 
brother  Anton  and  others.  France,  however,  could  no 
longer  be  his  home.  Accordingly,  with  his  brother  and 
sister,  he  set  out  once  more  for  Basle ;  but  as  the  war,  again 
renewed  between  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I. 
of  France,  was  being  waged  in  Lorraine,  he  essayed  to  go 
by  way  of  Geneva. 

This  city,  which  was  to  be  the  great  theatre  of  his  action, 
was  reached  about  the  end  of  August,  1536.  He  was 
merely  passing  through.  He  did  not,  as  he  tells  us,  propose 
to  stay  more  than  one  night.  Providence  had  brought  to 
Geneva  in  an  hour  of  need  the  man  she  needed — the  only 
man  in  all  Europe  or  the  world,  so  far  as  is  known,  who 
could  do  Geneva's  and  Christendom's  work  needing  done 
then  and  there. 

§  13.  The  Reformation  in  Geneva  Prior  to  Calvin's 
Coming,  1 532-1 536. 

Philip  Schaff  says  with  reference  to  the  political  history 
of  Geneva,  "Geneva  was  originally  governed  by  a  bishop 
and  a  count,  who  divided  the  spiritual  and  secular  govern- 
ment between  them.  Duke  Charles  HI.  of  Savoy  tried  to 
subdue  the  city  with  the  aid  of  an  unworthy  and  servile 
bishop,  Pierre  de  le  Baume,  whom  he  appointed  from  his 
own  family  with  the  consent  of  Pope  Leo  X.  But  a  pa- 
triotic party,  under  the  lead  of  Philibert  Berthelier,  Be- 
sancon  Hugues  and  Frangois  Bonivard  (Byron's  "Prisoner 
of  Chillon"),  opposed  the  attempt  and  began  a  struggle  for 
independence,  which  lasted  several  years  and  resembles  on 
a  small  scale  the  heroic  struggle  of  Switzerland  against 
foreign  oppression.  .  .  .  The  patriots  gained  the  victory 
with  the  aid  of  the  German  Swiss.  On  February  20,  1526, 
Bern  and  Freiburg  concluded  an  alliance  with  Geneva,  and 
pledged  their  armed  aid  for  the  protection  of  her  inde- 
pendence. .  .  .  The  bishop  appealed  in  vain  to  the  Pope 
and  the  Emperor,  and  left  Geneva  for  St.  Claude ;   but  he 


30  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

had  to  accept  the  situation  and  continued  to  rule  ten  years 
longer  (tih  1536). 

"This  political  movement,  of  which  Berthelier  is  the 
chief  hero,  had  no  connection  with  the  Reformation,  but 
prepared  the  way  for  it,  and  was  followed  by  the  evangeli- 
cal labors  of  Farel  and  Viret  and  the  organization  of  the 
Reformed  Church  under  Calvin."  * 

Even  during  the  struggle  for  civil  liberty  opposition  to 
the  Romish  Church  and  to  the  Genevan  clergy  had  begun 
to  grov/.  This  opposition  was  fed  by  reports  of  the  Luth- 
eran and  Zwinglian  movements,  and  by  the  establishment 
of  the  Reformation  in  Bern  in  1528. 

But  the  pioneer  of  Protestantism  in  Geneva  was  William 
Farel.  He  was  one  of  the  spiritual  sons  of  Jaques  le  Fevre 
d'Etaples  of  France,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  forceful 
evangelical  preachers  of  his  day,  a  devoted  servant  of  God 
ready  to  do  or  suffer  anything  in  Christ's  cause ;  bold, 
fearless,  a  born  fighter;  ingenuous,  noble,  but  somewhat 
rash,  impetuous  and  violent  in  speech. 

His  preaching  was  so  radical  that  he  was  driven  out  of 
France  toward  the  close  of  1523.  He  spent  some  time  in 
Basle  and  Strasburg;  taught  school  in  Switzerland  in  va- 
rious places  after  1526;  was  made  one  of  Bern's  mission- 
aries when  that  city  adopted  the  Reformation  in  1528.  He 
preached  with  great  energy  in  most  of  the  districts  under 
Bernese  control.  In  1529  he  established  the  Reformation 
in  Neuchatel.  He  helped  to  secure  the  adoption  of  the 
reformed  doctrines  by  the  Waldenses  in  Piedmont  in  1532, 

As  Farel  was  returning  from  this  visit  he  stopped  in 
Geneva.  He  explained  to  distinguished  representatives  of 
the  party  of  patriots  the  Protestant  doctrines.  The  council 
was  alarmed  and  ordered  Farel  to  leave  the  city.  He  was 
summoned  to  the  Episcopal  Council  in  the  house  of  Abbe 
de  Beaumont,  the  vicar-general  of  the  diocese.     He  was 

*Schaff:  History  of  the  Christian  Churchy  Vol.  VII.,  pp.  233, 
234- 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  31 

treated  there  in  the  most  contemptuous  and  contumelious 
manner.  He  responded  to  this  treatment  with  great  dig- 
nity, answering  that  he  was  ready  to  dispute  with  them 
and  to  give  an  account  of  his  faith  and  ministry.  He  was 
ordered  to  leave  the  city  in  three  hours.  He  escaped  with 
difficulty,  covered  with  spittle  and  bruises  inflicted  by  the 
infuriated  priests. 

His  next  appearance  in  Geneva  was  in  January,  1534, 
when,  under  the  protection  of  Bern,  he  held  a  public  dispu- 
tation with  Furbity  in  the  presence  of  the  Great  and  Small 
Councils  and  the  delegates  of  Bern.  This  time  Farel's  stay 
in  Geneva  was  of  longer  duration. 

On  the  27th  of  August,  1535,  the  Great  Council  of  the 
Two  Hundred  issued  an  edict  of  the  Reformation.  This 
was  followed  by  another  May  21,  1536.  It  was  stated  as 
follows  to  the  inhabitants  of  Geneva  assembled  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter,  ''By  a  decree  of  the  Council  of  Two 
Hundred  you  are  assembled  here,  that  it  may  be  known  if 
there  are  any  among  you  who  have  anything  to  say  against 
the  word  of  God  and  the  doctrine  which  is  preached  to  us 
in  this  city.  .  .  .  H  so,  let  them  speak  so  that  we  may 
know  if  there  be  any  who  are  not  willing  to  live  according 
to  the  gospel  which  has  been  proclaimed  to  us  since  the 
abolition  of  the  mass  and  of  the  papal  sacrifice."  "Upon 
which,"  says  the  register,  "Without  one  single  opposing 
voice,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  to,  and  carried  by  the 
holding  up  of  hands,  and  a  promise  and  an  oath  taken  to 
God  that  all  the  people  would  live  according  to  this  holy 
evangelical  law  and  the  word  of  God  which  has  been  made 
known  to  them,  forsaking  all  masses  and  other  papal  cere- 
monies and  frauds,  images  and  idols  and  living  together  in 
unity  and  in  obedience  to  law."  * 

This  was  the  birthday  of  the  Reformation  in  Geneva; 
but  the  child  that  day  brought  forth  was  born  into  a  diffi- 

*  Guizot :  St.  Louis  and  John  Calvin,  pp.  212,  213.  He  quotes 
the  passages. 


32  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

cult  and  untoward  environment.  It  needed  most  careful 
attendance,  wise  guidance  and  strong  defence.  Though 
Farel  had  done  much,  he  felt  that  he  was  not  competent  to 
make  the  movement  a  success.  He  was  not  preeminently 
a  man  of  thought,  of  tact,  of  organizing  ability.  He  could 
wage  effective  war  on  error.  He  fought  as  boldly  as  any 
man  could  and  with  might  for  what  was  right;  but  there 
was  need  now  of  a  great  constructive  genius.  Farel  felt 
this  himself.  He  was  ingenuous  and  noble  in  an  unusual 
degree.  He  was  willing  that  his  own  reputation  might  be 
eclipsed  by  that  of  an  abler  man.  He  sought  for  such  a 
man  for  Geneva. 

Just  at  this  time  he  was  informed  that  Calvin  was  in  the 
city  for  a  single  night ;  he  hastened  to  the  presence  of  the 
author  of  the  "Institutes."  He  endeavored  to  persuade  him 
to  undertake  with  him  the  work  of  carrying  on  the  re- 
formation in  Geneva.  Calvin  was  strongly  disinclined  to 
undertake  work  of  this  sort.  He  yearned  for  leisure  in 
which  to  study  and  set  forth  the  truth.  He  could  not  but 
be  conscious  of  his  great  capacities  as  a  thinker  and  writer. 
He  was  constitutionally  timid.  He  shrank  from  such  con- 
flicts as  he  saw  inevitably  before  the  leaders  of  the  Refor- 
mation in  Geneva — a  city  notorious  for  its  moral  laxity. 
As  Calvin  hesitated  Farel  became  insistent.  "When  he 
saw,"  says  Calvin,  "that  he  could  gain  nothing  by  prayer, 
he  tried  imprecation,  demanding  that  it  might  please  God 
to  curse  my  retirement  and  the  tranquillity  which  I  was 
seeking  for  my  studies,  if  I  held  back  and  refused  to  give 
succor  and  aid  at  such  a  time  of  need.  And  these  words 
terrified  and  shook  me  as  if  God  from  on  high  had  stretched 
out  his  hand  upon  me  to  stop  me,  so  that  I  renounced  the 
journey  which  I  had  undertaken ;  but  conscious  of  my  diffi- 
dence and  timidity,  I  refused  to  bind  myself  to  undertake 
any  definite  office."  * 

*Giiizot:  vS"^.  Louis  and  John  Calvin,  p.  214.  Quoted  from 
Calvin's  Preface  to  the  Commentary  on  the  Psalms. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  33 

Nevertheless,  recognizing  in  this  call  the  voice  of  God, 
this  shrinking  youth  was  soon  to  turn  himself  into  a  man 
of  steel.  Turbulent  and  licentious  Geneva  was  to  become 
"the  scene  of  every  crisis  and  every  problem,  great  or  small, 
which  can  agitate  human  society."  It  was  a  "tottering 
republic"  with  "a  wavering  faith  and  a  nascent  church." 
Calvin  knew  that  license  and  anarchy  were  worse  than  the 
tyranny  of  Savoy  and  the  servitude  to  the  Pope.  He  saw 
the  necessity  of  a  positive  faith  and  government  in  order  to 
the  salvation  of  the  city  and  the  people.  He  determined  to 
secure  both  the  adoption  of  a  confession  of  faith  and  the 
application  of  a  form  of  discipline — a  Bible  creed  and  a 
Bible  form  of  church  government ;  he  determined  to  apply 
in  Geneva  the  truth  of  God  and  the  pozver  of  God. 

§  14.     Calvin's  First  Period  in  Geneva,  1 536-1 538. 

Calvin  began  his  labors  as  teacher  on  the  5th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1536,  with  expository  lectures  on  Paul's  epistles  and 
other  parts  of  the  New  Testament.  These  lectures  were 
received  with  the  greatest  favor.  They  were  delivered  in 
the  afternoons  in  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Peter  to  great 
throngs  of  enthusiastic  listeners.  The  people  seemed  hun- 
gry for  the  word  of  God.  Calvin  expounded  it  with  ap- 
proximate mastery.  He  has  perhaps  never  been  equalled 
as  an  expositor  of  the  word  of  God. 

His  ideal  of  an  expositor  is  set  forth  in  the  preface  of 
his  commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  and  is  worthy 
of  the  careful  study  of  every  one  who  would  ever  success- 
fully expound  the  word  of  God.  In  his  view  "the  most 
excellent  quality  in  an  expositor  is  clearness  combined  with 
brevity,  it  being  his  particular  duty  to  exhibit  the  spirit  of 
the  writer ;  whence  he  errs  from  his  proper  line  in  propor- 
tion as  he  turns  the  attention  of  the  reader  from  the  writer 
on  which  he  is  employed."  "We  therefore  wished  that 
some  one  might  arise,"  he  continues,  "among  those  who  de- 
vote themselves  to  this  branch  of  theology,  who  would 
undertake   to    facilitate   the    study   of   scriptures    without 


34  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

carrying  the  student  through  too  great  a  mass  of  commen- 
taries. How  far  I  have  succeeded  in  this  attempt  I  leave 
you  and  my  readers  to  judge."  * 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  September  a  disputation  be- 
tween the  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics  was  held  at 
Lausanne.  To  this  conference  Calvin  went  as  the  young 
lieutenant  of  Farel.  Farel  conducted  the  debate  on  the 
Protestant  side  for  the  first  five  days.  Then  Calvin  made 
a  couple  of  short  speeches.  They  made  clear  his  know- 
ledge both  of  the  fathers  and  the  scriptures  and  the  Romish 
misunderstanding  and  misuse  of  each.  Their  effect  was 
tremendous.  The  Reformation  was  adopted  in  the  Pays 
de  Vaud  as  it  had  been  in  Geneva. 

Calvin  returned  to  Geneva  with  augmented  honors ;  he 
was  soon  after  elected  pastor,  and  under  this  title  was  sol- 
emnly installed  in  the  Church  of  St.  Peter.  His  preaching 
was  heard  with  loud  expressions  of  satisfaction. 

Farel  and  he  drew  up  a  confession  of  faith,  "a.  brief 
formula  of  belief  and  doctrine,"  as  Beza  says,  "to  give  some 
shape  to  the  newly  established  church."  Calvin  wrote  also 
a  catechism,  not  at  first  in  its  later  form  of  questions  and 
answers,  but  consisting  of  ''brief  summaries  of  all  the 
principal  tenets  of  our  religion." 

This  confession  consists  of  twenty-one  articles  in  which 
the  chief  doctrines  of  the  reformed  faith  are  clearly  and 
simply  stated,  and  that  faith  sharply  discriminated  from 
that  of  Rome.  The  doctrine  of  predestination  is  only  im- 
plied, not  stated,  however.  They  teach  briefly  the  princi- 
ples of  ecclesiastical  organization,  the  duty  of  obeying  civil 
"statutes  and  decrees  which  are  not  in  opposition  to  the 
commandments  of  God."  They  establish  "the  punishment 
of  excommunication,  which  "  they  "  hold  to  be  a  sacred 
and  salutary  weapon  in  the  hands  of  believers,  so  that  the 
wicked  by  their  evil  conversation  may  not  corrupt  the  good 
and  dishonor  Christ."    They  "hold  that  it  is  expedient  and 

*  Quoted  in  Henry:   Life  of  Calvin,  Vol.  I.,  p.  218. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  35 

according  to  the  ordinance  of  God  that  all  open  idolaters, 
blasphemers,  murderers,  thieves,  adulterers  and  false  wit- 
nesses, all  seditious  and  quarrelsome  persons,  slanderers, 
pugilists,  drunkards  and  spendthrifts,  if  they  do  not  amend 
their  lives  after  they  have  been  duly  admonished,  shall  be 
cut  off  from  communion  with  believers  until  they  have 
given  satisfactory  proof  of  repentance." 

During  this  period  Calvin  had  engaged  in  disputes  with 
Anabaptist  intruders  and  had  waged  a  controversy  with  the 
unprincipled  theological  adventurer,  and  turncoat,  the  vain 
and  quarrelsome,  the  vagarious  and  unmanly  Caroli,  who 
accused  the  Genevese  reformers  of  being  Arians. 

Such  were  Calvin's  early  labors  in  Geneva  as  a  teacher. 
Meanwhile  he  had  been  trying  to  apply  his  principles  of 
ecclesiastical  government.  Farel,  Calvin  and  Corault  had 
presented  to  the  council  a  memorial  concerning  the  future 
organization  and  discipline  of  the  church.  They  had  re- 
quested, in  particular,  the  council  to  elect  a  certain  number 
of  citizens  to  act  with  the  ministers  in  the  application  of 
discipline.  They  wished  to  bring  the  "power  of  God"  as 
well  as  the  truth  of  God  to  bear  on  the  lives  of  the  Gene- 
vese. Under  their  influence  the  Great  Council  of  the  Two 
Hundred,  on  January  16,  1537,  issued  a  series  of  orders 
forbidding  "immoral  habits,  foolish  songs,  gambling,  dese- 
cration of  the  Lord's  day,  baptism  by  midwives,"  and 
directing  that  all  idolatrous  images  should  be  burned. 

They  were  not  ready  to  sanction  the  power  of  excommu- 
nication, which  the  ministers  wanted ;  but  on  the  29th  of 
July,  1537,  the  Council  of  the  Two  Hundred  ordered  all 
the  citizens,  male  and  female,  to  give  their  assent  to  the  con- 
fession of  faith  in  the  Church  of  St.  Peter.  A  large  num- 
ber complied;  many  refused.  In  November,  1537,  the 
council  passed  a  measure  that  all  who  would  not  receive 
the  confession  should  be  banished — a  decree  that  could 
never  be  carried  into  force. 

There  is  much  in  this  influence  of  the  Genevan  reformers 
that  we  have  to  condemn.     Having  freed  the  Genevese 


36  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

from  the  bondage  of  Rome,  they  would  reduce  them  by 
force  to  a  bondage  to  their  confession.  They  had  failed  to 
see  that  God  alone  is  Lord  of  the  conscience.  They  neither 
gave  nor  expected  religious  toleration ;  they  did  not  regard 
it  as  right. 

Calvin,  in  his  practical  work  in  Geneva,  had  had  a  three- 
fold end  in  view,  viz.,  the  independence  of  the  church  of 
state  control,  the  government  of  the  church  by  itself  en- 
forced by  penalties  including  that  of  excommunication 
from  the  sealing  ordinances,  the  reform  of  society,  both 
civil  and  religious,  by  the  united  powers  of  church  and 
state. 

In  this  practical  aim  of  Calvin's  was  the  complex  occa- 
sion for  struggle.  The  frivolous  and  libidinous  people  of 
Geneva  were  disinclined  to  moral  reform.  The  state  was 
disinclined  to  allow  the  autonomy  of  the  church.  It  was 
unwilling  for  a  long  time  to  concede  to  the  presbytery  the 
right  of  excommunication.  An  harmonious  alliance  be- 
tween church  and  state  is  a  Utopian  dream,  impossible  of 
realization ;  for  how  can  two  walk  together  except  they 
be  agreed? 

Impatient  of  rigid  discipline,  the  people  set  themselves 
against  the  council.  In  this  opposition  they  were  aided  in 
part  by  Bern,  which  was  opposed  to  the  tenet  of  excom- 
munication. The  radicalism  of  Farel  and  Calvin  was  also 
displeasing  to  the  people.  Farel  had  early  abolished  all 
holidays  except  Sunday,  the  use  of  unleavened  bread  in  the 
communion,  and  the  baptismal  fonts.  Here,  too,  Bern  sup- 
ported the  opponents  of  the  Genevese  reformers,  being 
itself  less  radical  in  its  reforms  and  having  some  political 
aspirations  touching  the  acquisition  of  influence  in  Geneva. 

In  the  February  elections  of  1538  the  party  of  opposition 
elected  the  four  syndics  and  a  majority  of  the  members  of 
the  Great  Council.  The  new  rulers  moved  with  prudence. 
They  instituted  some  measures  furthering  the  work  of  re- 
form ;  but  they  enforced  the  Bernese  customs,  and  they 
did  nothing  to  suppress  the  popular  vices.     The  preachers 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  37 

therefore  thundered  against  them,  with  the  result  first  of 
the  banishment  of  Corault  and  later  that  of  Farel  and  Cal- 
vin. 

The  exile  of  Calvin  and  Farel  occurred  as  follows :  They 
had  been  ordered  to  celebrate  the  Easter  communion  after 
the  Bernese  custom.  They  refused  to  do  so,  owing  to  the 
prevalent  debauchery  and  disorder,  and  because  they  would 
not  subordinate  the  authority  of  God  to  that  of  Bern.  On 
Easter  Sunday,  April  21st,  they  preached,  Calvin  in  St. 
Peter's  and  Farel  in  St.  Gervais's,  to  large  audiences ;  but 
declared  that  they  could  not  administer  the  sacrament 
under  the  existing  circumstances.  Many  of  the  hearers 
were  armed ;  they  drew  their  swords ;  they  drowned  with 
their  shouts  the  voices  of  the  preachers.  The  preachers 
left  the  churches  under  guard  of  their  friends. 

On  the  next  two  days  the  Council  of  the  Two  Hundred 
met  in  the  cloisters  of  St.  Peter's  and  deposed  Calvin  and 
Farel  and  bade  them  leave  the  city  within  three  days. 

Zurich  made  some  kind  efforts  to  secure  their  restora- 
tion; but  the  preachers,  while  ready  to  make  minor  con- 
cessions, insisted  on  the  necessity  of  discipline  and  its 
exercise  by  a  joint  committee  of  ministers  and  laymen ;  and 
the  Genevese  confirmed  the  sentence  of  banishment  May 
26th.  The  exiles  proceeded  to  Basle,  whence  Farel  was 
soon  called  to  Neuchatel  and  Calvin  a  little  later  to  Stras- 
burg. 

Calvin  had  received  the  news  of  his  banishment  with  the 
noble  words,  "Very  well,  it  is  better  to  serve  God  than  man. 
If  we  had  sought  to  please  men  we  should  have  been  badly 
rewarded,  but  we  serve  a  higher  Master,  who  will  not  with- 
hold from  us  his  reward." 

§  15.  Calvin  in  Strashurg.  Still  the  Head  of  the  Gene- 
van Church,  1538-1541. 

Having  accepted  an  invitation  to  Strasburg,  Calvin  ar- 
rived at  that  city  in  the  early  days  of  September,  1538.  He 
was  cordially  received  by  Bucer  and  the  other  leading  re- 


38  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

formers  of  the  place.  The  council  appointed  him  assistant 
professor  of  theology,  in  which  capacity  he  lectured  on  the 
Gospel  of  John  and  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Romans  to 
growing  classes  of  admiring  pupils.  He  was  soon  made 
pastor  also  of  the  Church  of  the  "Strangers,"  his  church 
consisting  for  the  most  part  of  French  refugees.  In  this 
he  attempted  again,  and  this  time  with  considerable  success, 
to  apply  the  discipline  of  the  church  for  which  he  had  been 
expelled  from  Geneva.  He  regarded  discipline  as  of  hardly 
less  importance  than  doctrine.  He  gave  to  this  church,  too, 
a  liturgy  in  proximate  correspondence  with  New  Testa- 
ment teaching,  and  rejecting  almost  entirely  Mediaeval  ad- 
juncts. Philip  Schaff  nobly  says  of  it:  He  substituted  in 
the  place  of  Mediaeval  worship  "that  simple  and  spiritual 
mode  of  worship  which  is  well  adapted  for  intelHgent  de- 
votion, if  it  be  animated  by  the  quickening  presence  and 
power  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  becomes  jejune,  barren, 
cold  and  chilly  if  that  power  is  wanting.  He  made  the 
sermon  the  central  part  of  worship,  and  substituted  instruc- 
tion in  the  vernacular  for  the  reading  of  the  mass  in  Latin. 
He  magnified  the  pulpit,  as  the  throne  of  the  preacher, 
above  the  altar  of  the  sacrificing  priest.  He  opened  the 
inexhaustible  fountain  of  free  prayer  in  public  worship, 
with  its  endless  possibilities  of  application  to  varying  cir- 
cumstances and  wants.  He  restored  to  the  church  like 
Luther  the  inestimable  blessing  of  congregational  singing, 
which  is  the  true  popular  liturgy  and  more  efifective  than 
the  reading  of  written  forms  of  prayer."  *  The  rites  of 
baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  were  entirely  stripped  of 
later  adjuncts  and  performed  in  the  gospel  simplicity. 

This  liturgy  became  the  model  of  that  subsequently  es- 
tablished in  Geneva,  though  with  modifications,  and  of 
those  in  the  Reformed  French  Church  and  of  British  Pres- 
byterianism.  By  the  introduction  of  the  Psalter  in  the  ver- 
nacular, Calvin  comforted  and  inspired  the  persecuted 
French  Protestants  in  all  later  years. 

*  Schaff:   History  of  the  Christian  Church,  Vol.  VII.,  p.  379. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  39 

But  these  years  at  Strasburg  were  filled  not  only  with 
professional  and  pastoral  work.  Calvin  here  was  prolific 
as  an  author.  He  sent  forth  in  1539  his  matured  theologi- 
cal views  in  a  carefully  revised  edition  of  the  "Institutes ;" 
and  in  the  same  year  his  valuable  commentary  on  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Romans.  During  this  period  he  wrote  also  a 
French  treatise  on  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  an  overwhelming 
answer  to  Bishop  Sadolet's  letter  to  the  Genevese. 

Calvin  also  served,  as  at  the  colloquies  of  Frankfort, 
Worms  and  Regensberg,  as  a  commissioner  of  Strasburg 
and  the  Dukes  of  Luneberg — of  one  or  both.  At  these 
conferences,  which  were  among  German-speaking  peoples, 
Calvin  was  at  something  of  a  disadvantage — an  admired 
adviser  rather  than  a  public  protagonist.  Stahelin  thus 
defines  his  position  at  these  conferences,  "The  young 
Frenchman,  with  his  reserved  and  rather  shy  manners, 
must  have  been  a  singular  apparition  among  the  princes 
and  most  eminent  men  of  learning  in  the  German  empire 
amongst  whom  he  was  suddenly  thrown.  As  they  often 
spoke  in  German  he  did  not  always  understand  what  was 
being  discussed,  and  his  position  was  rather  that  of  a 
learned  and  reliable  man  whom  his  friends  had  summoned 
to  give  them  valuable  advice  than  that  of  one  who  took  an 
active  part  in  official  debates."  * 

Calvin  soon  came  to  expect  little  good  from  the  col- 
loquies. He  was  not  of  the  kind  that  compromises  truth. 
Protestants  and  Romanists  cannot  come  together  except 
upon  compromise  or  utter  abandonment  of  position  on  the 
part  of  one  party  or  the  other.  There  is  a  radical  antago- 
nism between  them.  Calvin's  presence  furthered  no  sort  of 
union  between  the  two  great  wings  of  Christendom. 

His  presence  in  these  colloquies  and  his  exile  in  Stras- 
burg, indeed,  were  productive  of  good  in  the  formation  of 
pure,  noble  and  enduring  friendships,  the  broadening  of 

*  Stahelin:  ,  Vol.  I.,  p.  233.    Quoted  in  Guizot:  St.  Louis 

and  John  Calvin,  p.  240. 


40  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

his  understanding  of  the  Lutheran  and  ZwingHan  wings  of 
Protestantism  and  the  widening  of  his  sympathies. 

These  friendships,  especiahy  that  with  Melanchthon, 
show  that  Calvin  possessed  a  strong  and  fervid  affectional 
nature,  and  that  his  friendships  could  easily  bridge  con- 
siderable chasms  in  the  faith,  provided  only  he  believed  in 
the  genuine  Christianity  of  the  man.  The  expressions  of 
affection  of  these  two  great  men  for  each  other,  notwith- 
standing their  theological  differences,  occurring  in  their 
correspondence,  strike  a  man  in  our  superficial  age  as  too 
fervid ;  but  they  and  much  matter  besides  in  Calvin's  lit- 
erary remains  effectually  overthrow  the  somewhat  current 
view  that  Calvin  was  a  man  all  head  and  no  heart.  He  is 
shown  to  have  been  a  man  of  inclusive  and  generous  affec- 
tions, which,  however,  were  curbed  and  directed  by  the 
dominant  affection  of  his  being,  viz.,  that  for  God  his  Sav- 
iour. These  friendships  lent  a  charm  to  his  life,  as  did  also 
his  marriage,  which  took  place  in  August,  1540. 

The  courtship  of  John  Calvin  strikes  a  man  with  a  less 
high  sense  of  duty  and  less  devotion  to  God  as  unnatural. 
With  Calvin  God  was  first  and  all  the  world,  including 
every  woman,  was  second  to  that  first  love.  His  devotion 
to  God  was  such  that  he  would  probably  hardly  have 
thought  seriously  of  taking  a  wife  had  not  his  friends,  out 
of  consideration  for  his  comfort  and  prolonged  usefulness,. 
urged  him  incessantly  to  do  so.  The  exhortations  of  his 
friends,  reinforced  by  his  feelings  of  loneliness  and  his 
need  of  care,  finally  occasioned  his  seeking  a  help-meet.  A 
help-meet  was  what  he  sought — one  to  aid  him  in  his  work 
for  God,  not  a  hindrance. 

What  he  thought  of  his  future  wife  and  the  view  which 
he  then  took  of  marriage  we  may  learn  from  his  letter  to 
Farel  bearing  the  date  of  May  19,  1539,  "Remember  what 
I  expect  from  one  who  is  to  be  a  companion  through  life. 
I  do  not  belong  to  the  class  of  loving  fools,  who,  blinded  by 
passion,  are  ready  to  expend  their  affection  on  vice  itself. 
Do  you  wish  to  know  what  kind  of  beauty  alone  can  win 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  41 

my  soul?  It  is  that  in  which  grace  and  virtue,  contented- 
ness  and  suavity  are  united  with  simpHcity ;  and  I  can  hope 
that  a  woman  with  these  quahties  would  not  be  negligent 
of  my  general  well-being."  * 

It  amuses  us  that  he  was  apparently  willing  to  submit 
the  choice  of  a  wife  for  himself  largely  to  his  friends. 
After  a  good  deal  of  prospecting  on  their  part,  he  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  in  Idelette  de  Bure,  widow  of  John 
Storder,  who  had  been  one  of  Calvin's  prominent  converts 
from  Anabaptism,  a  woman  of  education  and  dignity  of 
character,  he  had  found  that  cluster  of  qualities  for  which 
he  looked  in  a  wife,  albeit  her  health  was  poor  and  she  had 
several  small  children. 

They  were  married  with  a  good  deal  of  public  solemnity 
and  pomp,  and  lived  in  increasing  happiness  for  nine  years, 
when,  after  a  lingering  illness,  she  was  taken  from  his 
side.  Calvin's  wife  was  an  exalted  Christian.  Calvin 
esteemed  her  as  a  woman  and  loved  her  as  a  wife. 

His  admiration,  affection  and  devotion  to  his  wife  are 
often  incidentally  expressed  or  implied  in  his  correspond- 
ence. The  severity  of  grief  upon  her  death  is  also  nobly 
indicated  in  his  letter  to  Viret,  April  7,  1549.  The  letter 
runs  as  follows : 

"Although  my  wife's  death  has  pressed  hard  upon  me,  I 
seek  as  much  as  possible  to  conquer  my  sorrow,  and  my 
friends  contend  with  each  other  to  afford  me  consolation; 
but  in  truth  neither  their  nor  my  efforts  can  accomplish 
what  we  wish.  Useless,  however,  as  it  may  be,  it  is  a 
greater  comfort  to  me  than  I  can  describe.  You  know  the 
tenderness,  or  far  rather  ought  I  to  say  the  weakness,  of 
my  heart,  and  you  are  well  aware  therefore  that  if  I  had 
not  exercised  the  whole  force  of  my  spirit  to  soften  my 
agony,  I  could  not  have  borne  it ;  and  indeed  the  cause  of 
my  distress  is  not  a  trifling  one.  I  am  separated  from  the 
best  of  companions,  who,  if  anything  harder  could  have 

*  Quoted  in  Henry:   Life  of  John  Calvin,  Vol.  I.,  p.  264. 


42  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

happened  to  me,  would  willingly  have  been  my  companion, 
not  only  in  exile  and  in  want,  but  in  death  itself.  She  was 
a  true  help  to  me  in  her  life  in  the  duties  of  my  office.  She 
never  opposed  me  in  the  slightest  matter.  As  she  had  no 
anxiety  for  herself,  so  through  her  whole  sickness  she 
avoided  telling  me  that  she  had  any  for  her  children. 
But  as  I  feared  this  silence  might  uselessly  increase  her 
care,  I  began  myself,  three  days  before  her  death,  to  speak 
on  the  subject,  and  promised  to  do  for  her  children  what- 
ever lay  in  my  power.  She  immediately  answered  that  she 
had  already  commended  them  to  God ;  and  on  my  replying 
that  this  would  not  hinder  my  caring  for  them,  she  an- 
swered, 'I  am  sure  you  will  not  forsake  the  children  who 
are  commended  to  God.'  But  yesterday  I  learnt  that  when 
a  friend  requested  her  to  speak  with  me  respecting  the 
children,  she  answered  her  briefly  that  the  one  thing  neces- 
sary was  that  they  should  be  God-fearing  and  pious  people : 
'It  is  not  necessary  to  make  my  husband  promise  to  bring 
them  up  in  holiness  and  the  fear  of  God.  If  they  be  pious 
he  will  be  to  them  an  unsought  father ;  if  they  be  not,  they 
do  not  deserve  that  I  should  pray  for  them.'  And  this 
greatness  of  soul  will  indeed  influence  me  more  powerfully 
than  all  the  directions  she  could  have  given."  * 

His  family  life  no  doubt  helped  Calvin  to  be  a  better  pas- 
tor and  gave  reach  to  his  sympathies.  What  could  be 
sweeter  in  any  man's  letters  than  this  reference  to  Viret's 
little  girl  in  a  letter  to  the  father,  "I  sympathize  with  your 
little  daughter;  but  she  will  forgive  her  mother  when  she 
has  a  sister  or  brother  born  to  her.  The  weaning  I  hope  is 
well  over."  The  man  that  can  pass  from  matters  of  impor- 
tance to  the  griefs  of  a  child  as  Calvin  here  does  is  quite 
human  in  the  best  sense.  Both  in  his  references  to  his  own 
home  life  and  in  his  intimations  of  the  view  which  his 

*  Quoted  in  Henry:  Life  of  Calvin,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  266,  267.  Cf. 
Bonnet :  Calvin's  Letters,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  216,  217,  for  a  translation 
superior  in  some  respects. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  43 

friends  should  take  of  wife  and  children  we  find  ample 
evidence  that  Calvin,  in  commenting  on  Ephesians  v.  28-33, 
was  also  writing  out  of  his  own  heart.  He  says,  "It  is  a 
thing  against  nature  that  any  one  should  not  love  his  wife, 
for  God  has  ordained  marriage  that  two  may  be  made  one 
person — a  result  which  certainly  no  other  alliance  can 
bring  about.  When  Moses  says  that  a  man  shall  leave  fa- 
ther and  mother  and  cleave  unto  his  wife,  he  shows  that  a 
man  ought  to  prefer  marriage  to  every  other  union,  as 
being  the  holiest  of  all.    It  reflects  our  union  to  Christ." 

From  these  attractive,  but  too  little  understood,  features 
of  Calvin's  character  and  life  we  must  return  to  the  consid- 
eration of  a  part  of  his  literary  output  while  at  Geneva, 
a  work  that  showed  that  the  exile  was  still  the  pastor  of  the 
Genevese — his  answer  to  the  overture  of  Bishop  Sadolet. 

The  confusion  consequent  on  Calvin's  banishment  from 
Geneva  seemed  to  Rome  the  occasion  for  winning  to  herself 
the  allegiance  of  Geneva.  Sadolet,  Bishop  of  Carpentras  in 
Dauphiny,  seemed  to  be  the  man  for  the  enterprise.  He 
was  of  highly  respectable  morals,  amiable  qualities  of  heart, 
and  a  man  of  letters.  He  had  shown  himself  opposed  to 
the  bitterer  forms  of  persecution  employed  by  the  Roman- 
ists against  the  Protestants.  By  reason  of  his  character 
and  history,  therefore,  he  was  particularly  well  fitted  for 
the  task  of  reconciling  the  Genevese.  His  letter  to  the  Gen- 
evese was  a  sophistical,  but  plausible,  plea  wherefore  the 
people  of  Geneva  should  abandon  the  new-fangled  teach- 
ings and  cult  of  the  reformers  and  come  back  and  walk 
again  in  the  old  path  tried  and  '"approved  of  all  everywhere 
and  in  all  times."  Dignified  as  his  letter  was,  it  basely 
aspersed,  to  the  damage  of  the  impression  which  the  writer 
wished  to  make,  the  motives  of  the  reformers. 

The  letter  was  in  Latin  and  therefore  did  less  damage 
than  if  it  had  been  in  French ;  but  it  did  damage.  There 
was  no  man  in  Geneva  to  answer  it.  The  great  pastor  of 
the  Genevese  was  in  exile.  He  took  up  the  cudgels  there ; 
his  answer  to  Sadolet  was  exhaustive  of  the  points  made  by 


44  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

the  amiable,  but  wily,  ecclesiastic,  an  indignant,  but  tem- 
pered, vindication  of  his  ministry  as  one  called  of  God  and 
not  inspired  by  ambition  or  self-seeking.  As  a  demolition 
of  Sadolet's  argument  Calvin's  reply  was  complete ;  but  his 
reply  was  more  than  a  demolition  of  his  adversary's  argu- 
ment; it  was  an  attack  on  Rome  and  her  deviations  from 
truth.    Hear  a  part  of  his  impeachment  in  his  own  words : 

"I  will  not  permit  you,  Sadolet,  by  inscribing  the  name 
of  church  on  such  abominations,  both  to  defame  her  against 
all  law  and  justice,  and  prejudice  the  ignorant  against  us, 
as  if  we  were  determined  to  wage  war  against  the  church ; 
for,  though  we  admit  that  in  ancient  times  some  seeds  of 
superstition  were  sown,  which  detracted  somewhat  from 
the  purity  of  the  gospel,  still  you  know  that  it  is  not  so  long 
ago  since  those  monsters  of  impiety  with  which  we  war 
were  born  or,  at  least,  grew  to  such  a  size.  Indeed,  in  at- 
tacking, breaking  down  and  destroying  your  kingdom  we 
are  armed  not  only  with  the  energy  of  the  divine  word,  but 
with  the  aid  of  the  holy  fathers  also. 

"That  I  may  altogether  disarm  you  of  the  authority  of 
the  church,  which,  as  your  shield  of  Ajax,  you  ever  and 
anon  oppose  to  us,  I  will  show  by  some  additional  exam- 
ples how  widely  you  differ  from  that  holy  antiquity. 

"We  accuse  you  of  overthrowing  the  ministry,  of  which 
the  empty  name  remains  with  you  without  the  reality.  As  • 
far  as  the  office  of  feeding  the  people  is  concerned,  the  very 
children  perceive  that  bishops  and  presbyters  are  dumb 
statues,  while  men  of  all  ranks  know  by  experience  that 
they  are  active  only  in  robbing  and  devouring.  We  are  in- 
dignant that  in  the  room  of  the  sacred  supper  has  been 
substituted  a  sacrifice  by  which  the  death  of  Christ  is 
emptied  of  its  virtues.  We  exclaim  against  the  execrable 
traffic  in  masses,  and  we  complain  that  the  supper  of  the 
Lord,  as  to  one  of  its  halves,  has  been  stolen  from  the 
Christian  people.  We  inveigh  against  the  accursed  wor- 
ship of  images.  We  show  that  the  sacraments  are  vitiated 
by  many  profane  notions.     We  tell  how  indulgences  crept 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  45 

in  with  fearful  dishonor  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  We  lament 
that  by  means  of  human  traditions  Christian  liberty  has 
been  crushed  and  destroyed.  Of  these  and  similar  pests 
we  have  been  careful  to  purge  the  churches  which  the  Lord 
has  committed  to  us.  Expostulate  with  us  if  you  can  for 
the  injury  which  we  inflicted  on  the  Catholic  Church  by 
daring  to  violate  its  sacred  sanctions.  The  fact  is  now  too 
notorious  for  you  to  gain  anything  by  denying  it,  viz.,  that 
in  all  these  points  the  ancient  church  is  clearly  on  our  side, 
and  opposes  you  not  less  than  we  ourselves  do."  * 

Thus  Calvin  marches  on  charging  and  proving  through- 
out one  of  the  ablest  and  most  successful,  as  well  as  most 
dignified,  controversial  papers  of  the  time.  Luther  was  de- 
lighted. He  said  of  this  paper,  "This  answer  has  hand  and 
foot,  and  I  rejoice  that  God  raises  up  men  who  will  give 
the  last  blow  to  popery  and  finish  the  war  against  Anti- 
Christ  which  I  began."  f  The  answer  gave  great  satisfac- 
tion to  all  but  the  most  hostile  at  Geneva.  It  made  Calvin 
precious  to  all  the  friends  of  freedom.  It  gave  new  proof 
that  he  was  fit  to  be  the  pastor  of  the  city. 

Meanwhile,  and  during  the  following  months,  Geneva 
was  falling  into  more  and  more  of  disorder.  Discipline  was 
nil  and  immorality  ran  riot.  The  political  freedom  of  the 
country  was  in  danger.  Bern,  outwitting  the  Genevese 
commission,  acquired  treaty  sovereignty,  which  the  Great 
Council  would  not  acknowledge. 

The  Genevese  themselves  were  divided  into  three  parties, 
the  Bernese,  Roman  Catholic  parties  and  Reformers.  The 
Bernese  party  was  decimated  by  poHtical  execution.  Both 
that  party  and  the  Roman  Catholic  made  blunders.  The 
party  of  the  Reformers  began  again  to  grow  in  relative 
power  and  numbers. 

Thus  the  way  was  prepared  for  the  recall  of  Calvin. 
This  was  discussed  in  the  council  early  in  1539,  again  in 

*  Calvin's  Tracts,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  49,  50. 
t  Schaff:    Vol.  VII.,  p.  412. 


46  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

February,  1540,  and  decided  upon  September  21,  1540. 
From  that  time  on  increasingly  earnest  measures  were 
taken  to  get  him.  The  syndics'  letter  bearing  date  of  Octo- 
ber 22d  concludes,  "On  behalf  of  our  Little,  Great  and  Gen- 
eral Councils  (all  of  which  have  strongly  urged  us  to  take 
this  step),  we  pray  you  very  affectionately  that  you  will  be 
pleased  to  come  over  to  us,  and  to  return  to  your  former 
post  and  ministry;  and  we  hope  that  by  God's  help  this 
course  will  be  a  great  advantage  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
holy  gospel,  seeing  that  our  people  very  much  desire  you, 
and  we  will  so  deal  with  you  that  you  shall  have  reason  to 
be  satisfied."  *  The  seal  of  the  letter  bore  the  legend,"After 
darkness  I  hope  for  light." 

Calvin  loved  Geneva,  but  had  borne  bitter  experiences 
there.  He  knew  that  Titanic  struggles  awaited  him  should 
he  return.  The  theologians  at  Strasburg  contended  that 
his  place  was  there  at  the  head  of  the  French  Church  and  a 
teacher  of  theology  in  the  seminary.  After  a  time  both 
Calvin  and  his  friends,  however,  swung  around  to  the  con- 
clusion that  his  place  was  in  Geneva.  He  yearned  over 
Geneva  while  he  dreaded  to  return.  "There  is  no  place 
under  heaven,"  he  writes  to  Viret,  "of  which  I  can  have  a 
greater  dread,  not  because  I  have  hated  it,  but  because  I  see 
so  many  difficulties  presented  in  that  quarter  which  I  do 
feel  myself  far  from  being  able  to  surmount."  f  But  he 
remembered  that  in  this  matter  he  was  not  his  own  master. 
He  presented  his  heart  as  a  sacrifice  and  offered  it  up  to 
God.    He  returned  to  Geneva  in  early  September,  1541. 

*  Quoted  in  Schaff:  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  Vol.  VII., 
P-  431- 

■\  Calvin's  Letters,  Vol.  I.,  p.  231. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Period  of  His  Establishment,  and  Defence  of  as 
Scriptural,  of  an  Order  of  Ecclesiastical  Govern- 
ment, Corresponding  to  His  System  of  Faith, 
Which  is  Known  as  Presbyterianism,  i 541-1549. 

§   16.     Calvin's  Labors  in  this  Period. 

Upon  Calvin's  return  to  Geneva  he  entered  into  labors 
more  abundant.  He  was  professor  of  theology,  preacher, 
pastor,  member  of  the  church  court,  head  of  schools,  author, 
correspondent  with  all  Protestant  Europe,  head  of  the 
Reformation  movement,  fighting  controversies  on  every  side 
in  behalf  of  the  truth — the  protagonist  of  Protestantism 
against  the  papacy  and  the  protagonist  of  biblical  Protes- 
tantism against  the  rationalists.  Beza  says  of  "the  ordinary 
labors"  of  Calvin  at  this  time,  "During  the  week  he 
preached  every  alternate  and  lectured  every  third  day;  on 
Thursday  he  presided  in  the  meetings  of  presbytery  (con- 
sistory), and  on  Friday  he  attended  the  ordinary  scripture 
meeting  called  the  congregation,  where  he  had  his  full 
share  of  duty.  He  also  wrote  most  learned  commentaries  on 
several  of  the  books  of  scripture,  besides  answering  the 
enemies  of  religion,  and  maintaining  an  extensive  corres- 
pondence on  matters  of  great  importance.  Any  one  who 
reads  these  attentively  will  be  astonished  how  one  man 
could  be  fit  for  labors  so  numerous  and  great."  *  He  was 
a  preeminently  laborious  and  faithful  man  in  every  one  of 
his  church  relations.  It  may  touch  a  sympathetic  chord  in 
the  breasts  of  some  of  our  city  workers  to  learn  that  Cal- 
vin "proposed  the  establishment  of  'clubs   open  only  to 

*Beza:   Life  of  Calvin,  in  Calvin's  Tracts,  Vol.  I.,  p.  xxxix. 


48  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

members  of  the  association,  in  which  young  men  and  fa- 
thers of  famihes  could  meet  and  discuss  matters  relating 
to  the  war  and  other  things  useful  to  the  common- 
wealth,' "  *  and  that  four  such  clubs  were  established. 
Thus  this  busy  man  took  measures  to  break  up  the  resort 
to  taverns. 

Nor  is  this  all.  He  was  appointed,  together  with  three  of 
the  syndics  of  Geneva,  in  1541  to  draw  up  a  new  code  of 
laws  for  Geneva.  He  went  into  this  work  with  his  usual 
energy  and  faithfulness,  giving  attention  to  the  "minutest 
details  concerning  the  administration  of  justice,  the  city 
police,  the  military,  the  firemen,  the  watchmen  on  the 
towers  and  the  like."  f 

His  advice  was  sought  on  all  important  afifairs  of  state, 
although  he  was  not  a  citizen  of  Geneva  until  1559,  which 
was  eighteen  years  after  his  second  return  to  the  city.  He 
was  the  moral  head  of  Reformed  Geneva — of  state  as  well 
as  church,  though  he  never  held  a  civil  office  and  was  never 
a  member  of  a  council  and  never  appeared  before  one  of 
the  councils  except  when  asked,  or  when  some  religious 
question  was  being  debated. 

That  part  of  his  labors  which  cost  him  most  of  trials  in 
this  period  and  was  most  important  to  the  city  of  Geneva 
was  the  introduction  of  his  form  of  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment.   To  this  he  gave  himself  at  once  on  his  return. 

§  17.  Distinctive  Principles  of  Calvin's  Ecclesiastical 
Polity. 

On  his  arrival  in  Geneva  Calvin  had  no  sooner  paid  his 
respects  to  the  magistrates  than  he  requested  them  at  once 
to  appoint  a  commission  to  draw  up  an  ecclesiastical  consti- 
tution and  discipline  in  accord  with  the  word  of  God  and 
the  primitive  church. 

A  fortnight  later  this  commission  had  drawn  up  "a  hun- 

*Guizot:  St.  Louis  and  John  Calvin,  p.  266. 
tSchaff:  Vol.  VII.,  p.  464- 


Calvin  and  tpie  Genevan  Reformation.  49 

dred  and  sixty-eight"  articles  which  contained  a  complete 
scheme  of  church  government.  This  scheme  was  presented 
to  the  council  on  the  26th  of  September,  1541.  It  suffered 
modifications  prior  to  its  adoption  by  the  several  councils. 
Finally  on  the  2d  of  January,  1542,  "the  ecclesiastical  ordi- 
nances were  accepted  by  the  General  Assembly,  consisting 
of  2,000  citizens ;"  *  so  that  Calvin  could  write  as  he  did 
March  14,  1542,  "We  at  length  possess  a  presbyterial  court 
such  as  it  is,  and  a  form  of  discipline  such  as  these  dis- 
jointed times  will  permit."  f  He  had  won  so  much  only  by 
the  greatest  tact,  wisdom  and  persistence. 

The  distinctive  principles  of  this  system  of  government 
were — 

1.  The  self-government  of  the  church  under  the  head- 
ship of  Christ. 

2.  Ecclesiastical  discipline  of  all  the  members  of  the 
church  from  the  greatest  to  the  smallest  to  be  exercised  by 
a  parliamentary  court  consisting  of  ministers  of  the  gospel 
and  ruling  elders. 

3.  A  consistory,  or  parliamentary  court,  consisting  of 
elders  of  two  classes,  to  exercise  this  discipline. 

4.  The  recognition  and  reinstitution  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment ruling  eldership. 

Even  in  a  sketch  such  as  this  these  principles  of  church 
polity  deserve  more  particular  illustration : 

I.  Calvin  distinguished  sharply  between  church  and  state, 
but  he  saw  no  propriety  in  their  separation ;  held  that  they 
were  independent  of  one  another  each  in  its  own  domain; 
but  that  they  ought  in  action  to  combine  and  mutually  sup- 
port one  another.  He  held  to  the  duty  of  the  church  to 
maintain  relations  of  absolute  independence  and  separation 
from  the  state  only  when  it  is  necessary  in  order  to  her  own 
self-government.  He  believed  that  God  in  Christ  is  head 
of  both  church  and  state.     Here  lay  one  of  his  mistakes. 

*Guizot:    St.  Louis  and  John  Calvin,  p.  239. 
t  Calvin's  Letters,  Vol.  I.,  p.  316. 


50  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

God,  viewed  as  Creator  and  moral  Governor  of  the  uni- 
verse, is  head  of  the  state.  God,  viewed  as  Redeemer  also, 
is  head  of  the  church.  Calvin  thought  every  state  ought 
to  acknowledge  Christ  as  its  head.  This  was  the  concep- 
tion of  his  age.  He  was  not  able  to  shake  it  off.  Hence 
not  unnaturally  he  thought  that  two  such  institutions  under 
one  divine  head  ought  to  be  in  alliance  here  below. 

The  logic  of  such  a  position  is  persecution  by  the  state  on 
the  grounds  of  religious  heresy.  If  the  state  has  any  right 
to  profess  Christ  as  its  head  and  to  propagate  his  religion, 
then  it  must  vindicate  the  laws  of  Christ ;  it  must  punish 
heresy  with  the  forces  at  its  command.  Thus  naturally 
we  shall  find  the  Genevan  state  punishing  with  fine,  ban- 
ishment and  death  such  men  as  Gruet,  Bolsec  and  Servetus. 
God  never  gave  the  state  as  such  the  right  to  profess  Chris- 
tianity or  to  push  it. 

Calvin  was  wrong  in  holding  that  the  state  could  prop- 
erly be  Christian  in  any  such  sense ;  it  was  a  common  error 
of  his  age.  He  was  wrong  in  holding  the  propriety  of  a 
union  between  church  and  state,  and  thus  making  the  state 
profess  and  enforce  the  laws  of  both  tables  of  the  Deca- 
logue. He  tended,  however,  in  this  false  union  of  church 
and  state  to  make  the  church  the  superior  member  of  the 
alliance. 

He  was  right  in  contending  for  the  autonomy  of  the 
church — her  free  self-government,  even  at  the  cost  of 
breaking  the  alliance  of  church  and  state  and  the  church's 
entire  support  of  herself.  This  was  no  small  service  to 
Protestant  Christendom  wherein  generally  too  much  power, 
in  the  rebound  from  papal  tyranny,  had  been  given  to  the 
temporal  princes. 

2.  Calvin  valued  discipline  as  second  only  to  teaching. 
The  effort  to  introduce  discipline  had  been  the  primary  oc- 
casion of  his  expulsion  from  Geneva.  He  introduced  it 
successfully  in  the  French  congregation  at  Strasburg.  The 
need  of  it  was  one  reason  for  his  recall  to  Geneva.  It  is 
one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  his  influence  to  this  day. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  51 

This  stern  discipline,  based  on  his  noble  creed,  has  formed 
the  heroic  French,  Dutch,  English,  Scotch-Irish  and  Amer- 
ican and  Australian  Puritans  to  this  day. 

Calvin  proposed  to  realize,  so  far  as  possible,  the  ideal  of 
the  "church  without  spot  or  wrinkle,"  which  Paul  sets 
forth  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  v.  27.  He  sought  the 
glorification  of  God  by  the  dominion  of  his  word  in  the  life 
of  Christians.  In  his  doctrine  of  the  church  he  provided 
for  the  application  in  the  church  of  the  power  of  Christ  as 
well  as  the  teaching  of  Christ.  He  knew,  however,  that 
the  ideal  of  a  perfect  church  could  only  be  imperfectly 
realized.  He  teaches,  as  in  his  commentary  on  Matthew 
xiii.  47,  that  "  the  church  while  on  earth  is  mixed  with 
good  and  bad  and  will  never  be  free  from  all  impurity.  .  .  . 
Although  God,  who  is  a  God  of  order,  commands  us  to  ex- 
ercise discipline,  he  allows  for  a  time  to  hypocrites  a  place 
among  believers  until  he  shall  set  up  his  kingdom  in  perfec- 
tion on  the  last  day.  As  far  as  we  are  concerned,  we  must 
strive  to  correct  vices  and  to  purge  the  church  of  impurity, 
although  she  will  not  be  free  from  all  stain  and  blemish  till 
Christ  shall  separate  the  sheep  from  the  goats." 

The  importance  of  discipline  Calvin  formally  sets  forth 
in  his  introduction  to  the  discussion  of  "The  Discipline  of 
the  Church"  contained  in  the  "Institutes,"  Book  IV.,  Chap- 
ter xii.  He  says,  "As  some  have  such  a  hatred  of  discipline 
as  to  abhor  the  very  name,  they  should  attend  to  the  fol- 
lowing consideration :  that  if  no  society  and  even  no  house, 
though  containing  only  a  small  family,  can  be  preserved  in 
a  proper  state  without  discipline,  this  is  far  more  necessary 
in  the  church,  the  state  of  which  ought  to  be  the  most  or- 
derly of  all.  As  the  saving  doctrine  of  Christ  is  the  soul  of 
the  church,  so  discipline  forms  the  ligaments  which  connect 
the  members  together  and  keep  each  in  its  proper  place. 
.  .  .  Discipline,  therefore,  serves  as  a  bridle  to  curb  and 
restrain  the  refractory  who  resist  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  or 
as  a  spur  to  stimulate  the  inactive,  and  sometimes  as  a 
father's  rod  with  which  those  who  have  grievously  fallen 


52  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

may  be  chastised  in  mercy  and  with  the  gentleness  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ.  Now,  when  we  see  the  approach  of  certain 
beginnings  of  a  dreadful  desolation  in  the  church,  since 
there  is  no  solicitude  or  means  to  keep  the  people  in  obedi- 
ence to  our  Lord,  necessity  itself  proclaims  the  want  of  a 
remedy ;  and  this  is  the  only  remedy  which  has  been  com- 
manded by  Christ  or  which  has  ever  been  adopted  among 
believers."  * 

In  accordance  with  the  teaching  of  Christ,  Calvin  made 
three  degrees  of  discipline,  viz.,  private  admonition,  admo- 
nition in  the  presence  of  witnesses  or  before  the  church, 
and  excommunication.  Excommunication  is  to  be  em- 
ployed only  "for  the  correcting  of  atrocious  crimes,"  such  as 
"adultery,  fornication,  theft,  robbery,  sedition,  perjury, 
false  witness,  and  other  similar  crimes,  together  with  obsti- 
nate persons,  who  after  having  been  admonished  even  of 
smaller  faults,  contemn  God  and  his  judgment."  Admoni- 
tion in  the  presence  of  witnesses  is  to  be  employed  against 
"public  offences"  of  less  heinousness  and  against  private 
offences  of  inferior  sort,  when  private  admonition  has 
failed.  Private  admonition  is  to  be  employed  universally 
whenever  occasion  shall  require.  "Pastors  and  presbyters, 
beyond  all  others,  should  be  vigilant  in  the  discharge  of  this 
duty,  being  called  by  their  office,  not  only  to  preach  to  the 
congregation,  but  also  to  admonish  and  exhort  in  private 
houses,  if  in  any  instances  their  public  instructions  may 
not  have  been  sufficiently  efficacious,  as  Paul  inculcates 
when  he  says  that  he  'taught  publicly  and  from  house  to 
house,'  and  protests  himself  to  be  'pure  from  the  blood  of 
all  men,'  having  'ceased  not  to  warn  every  one  night  and 
day  with  tears.'  "  f 

The  ends  of  discipline  are,  "First,  that  those  who  lead 
scandalous  and  flagitious  lives  may  not,  to  the  dishonor  of 

*  Institutes.  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication,  Philadelphia, 
1841. 

f  Institutes,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  411,  412. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  53 

God,  be  numbered  among  Christians.  .  .  .  For  as  the 
church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  it  cannot  be  contaminated  with 
such  foul  and  putrid  members  without  some  ignominy  be- 
ing reflected  upon  the  Head."  "The  second  end  is,  that 
the  good  may  not  be  corrupted,  as  is  often  the  case,  by 
constant  association  with  the  wicked ;  for  such  is  our  pro- 
pensity to  error,  nothing  is  more  easy  than  for  evil  exam- 
ples to  seduce  us  from  rectitude  of  conduct."  "A  little 
leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump."  "The  third  end  is,  that 
those  who  are  censured  or  excommunicated,  confounded 
with  the  shame  of  their  turpitude,  may  be  led  to  repent- 
ance." 

On  no  point  does  Calvin  lay  more  emphasis  than  that 
discipline  of  every  degree  is  to  be  administered  only  "with 
a  spirit  of  gentleness."  "For  there  is  constant  need  of  the 
greatest  caution,  according  to  the  injunction  of  Paul,  re- 
specting a  person  who  may  have  been  censured,  'lest  per- 
haps such  a  one  should  be  swallowed  up  with  overmuch 
sorrow ;'  for  thus  a  remedy  would  become  a  poison ;  but 
the  rule  of  moderation  may  be  better  deduced  from  the  end 
intended  to  be  accomplished ;  for  as  the  design  of  excom- 
munication is  that  the  sinner  may  be  brought  to  repentance, 
and  evil  examples  taken  away,  to  prevent  the  name  of 
Christ  from  being  blasphemed  and  other  persons  tempted 
to  imitation ;  if  we  keep  these  things  in  view,  it  will  be  easy 
to  judge  how  far  severity  ought  to  proceed  and  where  it 
ought  to  stop."  *  He  inculcates  earnestly  the  duty  of  try- 
ing to  win  to  a  holy  life  the  excommunicated.  He  made  it 
the  church's  duty  to  receive  into  communion  again,  on  his 
repentance,  one  who  had  been  excommunicated ;  and  this 
also  though  the  repentance  were  after  a  second  excommu- 
nication. "Such,"  he  says,  "as  are  expelled  from  the 
church,  therefore,  it  is  not  for  us  to  expunge  from  the 
number  of  the  elect,  or  to  despair  of  them  as  already  lost. 
It  is  proper  to  consider  them  as  strangers  to  the  church, 

*  Calvin:    Institutes,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  415,  416. 


54  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

and  consequently  from  Christ,  but  this  only  as  long  as  they 
remain  in  a  state  of  exclusion."  * 

Anathema,  or  the  devotion  of  a  person  to  eternal  perdi- 
tion, he  thought,  ought  never  be  resorted  to,  or,  at  least, 
very  rarely. 

Calvin  would  make  the  discipline  of  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel  only  more  rigid  than  that  of  the  people.  As  ensam- 
ples  to  the  flock  they  were  under  special  obligations  to  live 
an  approvable  life.  Against  the  Romish  Church  he  vindi- 
cated the  minister's  right  to  marriage,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
on  the  other  denied  his  right  to  exemption  from  the  civil 
courts,  and  taught  that  they  should  be  afflicted  with  the 
same  punishments  as  laymen  for  misdemeanors. 

Little  just  criticism  can  be  passed  against  Calvin's  views 
of  the  importance  of  discipline,  its  proper  ends,  and  as  to 
the  spirit  with  which  it  should  be  exercised.  Owing  to  the 
unhappy  union  of  church  and  state  which  all  Calvin's  age 
believed  in,  he  was  not  so  happy  in  locating  the  power  of 
discipline;  but  this  brings  us  to  the  third  distinctive  fea- 
ture of  his  polity. 

3.  Church  discipline  should  be  exercised  by  a  presbytery 
(consistory),  consisting  of  elders  of  two  classes — minis- 
ters of  the  gospel  and  ruling  elders. 

This  is  a  correct,  biblical  principle  in  cases  where  the 
officers  are  duly  elected  by  the  church  members  in  full 
communion ;  but  in  Geneva,  owing  to  the  union  of  church 
and  state,  this  presbytery  (consistory)  embraced,  in  the 
time  of  Calvin,  five  city  pastors  and  twelve  elders,  selected 
two  from  the  Lesser  Council  and  ten  from  the  Council  of 
Sixty,  or  that  of  Two  Hundred.  The  elders  were  chosen 
by  the  Lesser  Council,  but  confirmed  by  the  preachers. 
The  preachers  were  always  elected  first  by  the  body  of 
preachers  already  in  existence ;  but  their  election  had  to  be 
further  confirmed  by  approval  on  the  part  of  the  Lesser 
Council.     Lastly,  if  the  congregation  had  anything  to  ob- 

*  Calvin :  Institutes,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  417,  418. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  55 

ject  it  was  made  its  duty  to  state  its  objection  to  the  syndics 
that  all  might  be  satisfied  with  the  choice. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  state,  as  such,  had  a  good  deal  to 
do  with  the  appointment  of  the  members  of  the  consistory. 

This  came  of  the  state's  having  the  church  as  its  church. 
The  court  of  the  church  was  really  the  state's  court  to  at- 
tend to  its  church's  business.  '"This  consistory  was  never 
to  assume  any  of  the  rights  of  civil  power.  If  the  infliction 
of  [corporal]  punishment  seemed  necessary  to  it,  it  was  to 
lay  the  circumstance  before  the  government,  it  belonging 
unto  God  to  determine  the  powers  of  both."  * 

This  presbytery  was  the  controlling  power  in  the  church 
of  Geneva.  Its  severest  punishment  was  that  of  excom- 
munication. The  council  was  disposed  to  deny  the  con- 
sistory this  right ;  and  it  only  granted  the  undisputed 
power  of  excommunication  after  the  year  1555.  Before 
that,  excommunicated  persons  were  ever  appealing  to  the 
council. 

Confused  readers  often  malign  the  consistory  of  the  Ge- 
nevan Church,  confusing  it  with  the  council — the  Little 
Council — a  civil  organ  which  condemned  Gruet,  Bolsec  and 
Servetus,  whose  names  "do  not  even  appear  in  the  re- 
cords" f  of  the  consistory. 

The  formal  president  of  the  consistory  was  one  of  the 
syndics.  Calvin  exercised  a  controlling  influence  in  its  de- 
cisions, but  only  by  his  moral  and  intellectual  weight. 

A  sort  of  subsidiary  organ  of  ecclesiastical  rule  was  the 
Venerable  Company,  which  consisted  of  all  the  ministers 
of  the  city  and  district  of  Geneva.  It  took  the  general 
supervision  of  all  strictly  ecclesiastical  affairs,  especially 
education,  ordination  and  installation  of  ministers  of  the 
gospel ;  but,  as  we  have  seen,  no  one  could  be  admitted  to 
the  ministry  and  installed  without  the  cooperation  of  the 
civil  government  and  the  assent  of  the  people. 

*  Henry :   Life  of  Calvin,  p.  386. 
tSchaff:  Vol.  VII.,  p.  482. 


56  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

The  great  fault  with  the  appHcation  of  this  feature  of 
Calvin's  policy  in  Geneva  was  that  the  communicants  had 
too  little  power  in  the  choice  of  the  rulers ;  that  the  state 
had  any  power  in  the  case,  and  that  the  consistory  recog- 
nized that  it  was  in  some  sense  an  instrument  of  state. 

Had  Calvin  but  gotten  rid  of  the  idea  of  the  propriety 
of  the  union  between  church  and  state,  or  had  he  been 
forced  to  separate  the  church  from  the  state,  he  would  have 
deserved  unqualified  approval  for  resurrecting  the  biblical 
organ  of  church  government — a  presbytery  composed  of 
elders  of  two  classes,  elders  who  both  rule  and  teach,  and 
elders  who  rule  only. 

Calvin  saw  clearly  that  in  the  New  Testament  the  bishop 
is  an  elder  and  the  elder  a  bishop.  He,  therefore,  in  com- 
mon with  the  reformers  generally  taught  the  parity  of  the 
ministry ;  but  he  saw  also  that  among  these  New  Testa- 
ment officers,  called  indifferently  elders  or  bishops,  there 
were  two  classes.  Thus  we  come  to  the  fourth  distinctive 
principle  of  Calvinism. 

4.  The  recognition  and  reinstitution  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment ruling  eldership.  Commenting  on  Romans  xii.  8  and 
I  Corinthians  xii.  28,  Calvin  says,  "  'Governors'  I  appre- 
hend to  have  been  persons  of  advanced  years,  selected  from 
the  people,  to  unite  with  the  bishops  in  giving  admonitions 
and  exercising  discipline.  For  no  other  interpretation  can 
be  given  of  that  injunction,  'He  that  ruleth,  let  him  do  it 
with  diligence.'  Therefore,  from  the  beginning,  every 
church  has  had  its  senate  or  council,  composed  of  pious, 
grave  and  holy  men,  who  were  invested  with  that  jurisdic- 
tion in  the  correction  of  vices,  of  which  we  shall  soon  treat. 
Now,  that  this  regulation  was  not  of  a  single  age,  experi- 
ence itself  demonstrates.  This  office  of  government  is 
necessary,  therefore,  in  every  age."  * 

Presbyterians  to-day  may  see  the  New  Testament  ruling 
elder  more  accurately.    They  may  prove  his  existence  and 

*  Calvin :   Institutes,  Book  IV.,  Chap,  iii..  Sec.  8. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  57 

prerogatives  more  conclusively ;  but  Calvin  deserves  credit 
for  having  discerned  the  officer  more  clearly  than  any  other 
man  of  his  time. 

It  may  be  noted  also,  in  passing,  that  Calvin  reinstituted 
the  New  Testament  office  of  the  deacon.  They  were  elected 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  elders.  They  were  of  two  kinds, 
first,  those  who  were  to  administer  the  alms  regularly  col- 
lected, and,  second,  those  who  were  to  take  care  of  the 
sick  and  to  provide  food  for  the  poor. 

§  18.  Calvin's  Struggle  zvith  the  Patriots  and  Liber- 
tines in  Behalf  of  Discipline. 

Calvin  infused  the  spirit  of  Puritanism  by  degrees  into 
the  church  and  state  of  Geneva;  so  that  "dancing,  gam- 
bling, drunkenness,  the  frequentation  of  taverns,  profanity, 
luxury,  excesses  at  public  entertainments,  extravagance 
and  immodesty  in  dress,  licentious  or  irreligious  songs, 
were  forbidden,  punished  by  censure  or  fine  or  imprison- 
ment ;"  *  and  so  that  the  reading  of  immoral  books  and 
bad  novels  was  prohibited.  Heresy,  idolatry  and  blas- 
phemy and  adultery  after  the  second  offence  were  punished 
by  the  state  of  Geneva  with  the  death  penalty. 

Even  the  strictly  ecclesiastical  discipline  introduced  by 
Calvin  was  perhaps  too  rigid,  though  it  helped  to  make 
Geneva  the  greatest  school  of  Christ  on  earth.  The  en- 
deavor on  the  part  of  the  state  to  discipline  for  ecclesiasti- 
cal offences  was  an  usurpation  and  a  deprivation  of  reli- 
gious liberty — a  thing  to  be  forever  deplored,  though  a 
thing  found  in  Calvin's  day  in  every  Protestant  and  Roman 
Catholic  country  under  the  sun.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
Calvin  inspired  state  as  well  as  church  with  his  spirit, 
tiiough  at  times  they  went  beyond  him — became  more  rigid 
and  stern  than  he  was. 

It  was  some  time  before  the  state  came  into  full  sym- 
pathy with  his  system.    For  years  there  were  struggles  be- 

*Schaff:   Vol.  VII.,  pp.  489,  490. 


58  Calvin  and  tpie  Genevan  Reformation. 

tween  the  consistory,  or  the  Venerable  Company,  and  the 
council,  the  council  espousing  the  cause  of  lax  discipline. 
The  party  of  stern  discipline,  therefore,  in  their  efforts  at 
discipline  during  the  first  ten  years  often  found  themselves 
v^ithstood  by  the  council.  Individuals  knowing  of  this  dif- 
ference of  the  powers  were  bolder  and  more  contemptuous ; 
and  at  least  two  considerable  parties  maintained  a  bitter 
conflict  with  Calvin  for  years. 

These  were  the  Patriots  and  the  Libertines : 

1.  The  Patriots,  or  Children  of  Geneva,  as  they  called 
themselves,  included  many  of  the  oldest  Genevese  families. 
Fabri  Ameaux,  Perrin,  Berthelier  and  Vandel.  They  had 
helped  to  win  the  freedom  of  Geneva.  They  had  even 
helped  to  introduce  the  Reformation  as  a  sort  of  bulwark 
against  their  old  enemies ;  but  they  were  wild,  wayward, 
licentious  folk,  impatient  of  all  law  and  restraint.  They 
desired  not  freedom,  but  license.  They  hated  Calvin's  dis- 
cipline. They  were  furious  at  the  thought  of  the  city's 
coming  under  the  control  of  his  party.  His  party  was 
growing.  Refugees  from  all  quarters  of  Europe,  especially 
from  PYance,  were  flocking  to  him — men  who  had  left 
home  and  property  for  religion.  They  were  ready  to  be- 
come citizens  of  the  city  in  which  Calvin  ministered.  They 
strengthened  his  power.  The  Patriots  succeeded  at  one 
time  in  prohibiting  the  carrying  of  arms  by  the  refugees 
and  their  admission  to  citizenship.  This,  however,  was 
only  a  temporary  victory.  The  refugees  were  of  that  very 
stuff  of  which  good  citizens  were  made.  They  were  ad- 
mitted in  great  numbers  to  citizenship,  at  times  when  the 
government  was  favorable. 

2.  The  Libertines,  or  Spiritualists,  as  they  called  them- 
selves, were  the  bitterest  opponents  of  Calvin's  system  of 
discipline. 

They  were  pantheists  and  antinomians.  They  said, 
"'What  I  do  God  does."  "What  God  does  we  do,  for  he  is 
in  us."  Sin  is  a  mere  phantasy  or  illusion.  It  ceases  to  be 
as  soon  as  we  get  rid  of  the  notion  that  it  exists.    They  in- 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  59 

dulged  in  the  gTossest  licentiousness.  The  wife  of  Ameaux 
justified  her  hcentiousness  by  the  doctrine  of  the  commu- 
nion of  saints.  They  taught  that  legal  marriage  is  carnal 
and  not  binding.  They  magnified  spiritual  marriage. 
They  parodied  the  gospel,  blasphemed  God  and  Christ, 
were,  in  short,  moral  swine,  cheats  and  liars. 

These  parties  were  constant  thorns  in  Calvin's  side, 
prodding  him  on  every  turn.  They,  singly  or  in  union, 
availed  themselves  of  every  adverse  turn  in  the  relations 
of  the  consistory  to  the  Civil  Council,  i.  e.,  of  every  ad- 
verse turn  in  Calvin's  relation  to  the  council. 

In  reference  to  the  struggle  between  himself  and  these 
parties  he  says  in  the  preface  to  his  commentary  on  the 
Psalms  (1557),  "If  I  should  describe  the  course  of  my 
struggles  by  which  the  Lord  has  exercised  me  from  this 
period,  it  would  make  a  long  story,  but  a  brief  reference 
may  suffice.  It  affords  me  no  slight  consolation  that  David 
preceded  me  in  these  conflicts ;  for  as  the  Philistines  and 
other  foreign  foes  vexed  this  holy  king  by  continual  wars, 
and  as  wickedness  and  treachery  of  the  faithless  of  his  own 
house  grieved  him  still  more,  so  was  I  on  all  sides  assailed, 
and  had  scarcely  a  moment's  rest  from  outward  or  inward 
struggles ;  but  when  Satan  had  made  so  many  efforts  to 
destroy  our  church,  it  came  at  length  to  this,  that  I,  unwar- 
like  and  timid  as  I  am,  found  myself  compelled  to  oppose 
my  own  body  to  the  murderous  assault  and  to  ward  it  off. 
Five  years  long  had  we  to  struggle  without  ceasing  for  the 
upholding  of  discipline ;  for  these  evil-doers  were  endowed 
with  too  great  a  degree  of  power  to  be  easily  overcome; 
and  a  portion  of  the  people,  perverted  by  their  means, 
wished  only  for  an  unbridled  freedom.  To  such  worthless 
men,  despisers  of  the  holy  law,  the  ruin  of  the  church  was 
a  matter  of  utter  indifference,  could  they  but  obtain  the 
liberty  to  do  whatever  they  desired.  Many  were  induced 
by  necessity  and  hunger,  some  by  ambition  or  by  a  shame- 
ful desire  of  gain,  to  attempt  a  general  overthrow,  and  to 
risk  their  own  ruin  as  well  as  ours  rather  than  be  subject  to 
the  laws.    Scarcely  a  single  thing,  I  believe,  was  left  unat- 


6o  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

tempted  by  them  during  this  long  period  which  we  might 
not  suppose  to  have  been  prepared  in  the  workshop  of  Sa- 
tan. Their  wretched  design  could  only  be  attended  with 
a  shameful  disappointment.  A  melancholy  drama  was  thus 
presented  to  me;  for  much  as  they  deserved  all  possible 
punishment,  I  should  have  been  rejoiced  to  see  them  pass- 
ing their  lives  in  peace  and  respectability,  which  might  have 
been  the  case  had  they  not  wholly  rejected  every  kind  of 
prudent  admonition." 

Calvin  is  not  the  man  to  magnify  his  own  experiences. 
Our  limits  do  not  allow  us  to  follow  him  in  these  struggles, 
to  see  the  contumely  and  insult  heaped  upon  him  on  his 
way  to  his  lecture-room,  to  hear  shots  fired  before  his  bed- 
room door,  to  hear  him  called  Cain,  to  hear  the  dogs  called 
after  him,  to  see  him  threatened  in  the  pulpit,  to  see  the 
men  with  a  vow  on  them  to  throw  him  in  the  Rhone ;  but 
we  shall  take  the  liberty  of  re-presenting  one  incident  in 
this  struggle,  and,  as  we  shall  not  take  this  side  of  his  his- 
tory up  in  the  next  period,  we  shall  go  beyond  the  year 
1549  to  that  of  1553  for  this  incident. 

In  the  year  1553,  the  old  struggle  between  the  consistory 
and  the  council  was  being  gone  over  again — the  struggle 
as  to  which  should  exercise  the  right  of  excommunication. 
The  Libertines  availed  themselves  of  this  disagreement  be- 
tween the  council  and  the  consistory.  "They  ranged  them- 
selves on  the  side  of  the  council,  and  Berthelier,  one  of  their 
most  violent  partisans — a  man  whose  unbelief  and  immor- 
ality were  known  to  all — presented  himself  at  the  Lord's 
Supper,  and  was  excommunicated  by  the  consistory.  He 
complained  to  the  council,  which  declared  it  would  not 
ratify  the  sentence,  and  that  'if  Berthelier  had  no  impedi- 
ment in  his  own  conscience  which  hindered  him  from  ap- 
proaching the  table  of  the  Lord,  the  council  authorized  him 
to  do  so.'  'Gentlemen,'  said  Calvin,  'as  for  me  I  would 
rather  suffer  death  than  allow  the  table  of  my  Lord  to  be 
profaned  in  such  a  manner.'  "  * 

*  Guizot :    St.  Louis  and  John  Calvin,  p.  280. 


Calvin  and  the  Genev^an  Reformation.  6i 

The  council  knew  Calvin.  It  was  overawed.  It  sent 
word  to  Berthelier  to  stay  away  for  the  present  if  he  could ; 
but  Berthelier  and  his  friends  wished  to  provoke  an  open 
rupture.  On  Sunday,  the  3d  of  September,  1553,  the  Lib- 
ertines were  present  in  St.  Peter's  in  large  numbers  and 
thronged  the  benches  near  the  communion  table.  Calvin 
ascended  the  pulpit  and  preached  on  the  state  of  mind  and 
heart  proper  in  those  who  would  approach  the  Lord's  table. 
He  concluded  his  sermon  with  these  words : 

"As  for  me,  so  long  as  it  shall  please  God  to  keep  me 
here,  since  he  has  given  me  resolution  and  I  have  derived 
it  from  him,  I  shall  not  fail  to  exercise  it  when  there  is 
need;  and  I  will  rule  my  life  in  accordance  with  the  will  of 
my  Master,  which  is  quite  clear  and  well  known  to  me. 
.  .  .  We  are  now  about  to  receive  the  holy  sacrament,  and 
if  any  one  who  has  been  excommunicated  by  the  consistory 
tries  to  approach  that  table,  at  the  risk  of  my  life  I  am  pre- 
pared to  do  my  duty."  * 

He  came  down  from  the  pulpit  and  blessed  the  elements. 
Several  of  the  Libertines  made  a  movement  as  if  to  seize 
the  bread  and  wine.  Calvin  spread  his  hands  over  them 
and  cried,  "You  may  break  these  limbs,  you  may  cut  off  my 
arms,  you  may  take  my  life !  Shed  my  blood  if  you  will ;  it 
is  yours !  but  never  shall  one  compel  me  to  give  things  that 
are  sacred  to  the  profane  and  to  dishonor  the  table  of  my 
God." 

The  Libertines  were  not  prepared  for  action  so  decided. 
They  glanced  at  one  another.  They  heard  a  murmur  from 
the  congregation  which  threatened  danger,  they  hesitated 
and  drew  back  from  the  table.  The  agitated  throng  of  be- 
lievers then  partook  of  the  sacramental  elements  in  silence. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  Calvin  preached  again. 
He  said : 

"I  do  not  know  if  this  is  not  the  last  sermon  I  shall  ever 
preach  in  Geneva ;  not  that  I  leave  by  my  own  wish  or  that 

*  Quoted  in  Guizot :   St.  Louis  and  Jolin  Calvin,  p.  281. 


62  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

I  desire  to  depart  from  this  spot  and  to  give  up  the  author- 
ity which  I  hold ;  but  I  take  that  which  has  been  done  to 
signify  that  Geneva  will  receive  my  services  no  longer,  and 
will  seek  to  compel  me  to  do  what  God  does  not  permit.  So 
long  as  I  am  free  to  preach  and  to  serve  you  I  will  do  it 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  but  if  I  am  forced  into  an  intoler- 
able position,  I  will  not  resist  the  constituted  authorities 
and  I  must  go."  * 

His  conduct  had  been  determined.  His  language  is 
guarded.  He  showed  himself  respectful  of  authority ;  but 
claimed  the  right  of  acting  in  accord  with  the  dictates  of 
his  own  conscience.  Geneva  had  tried  the  experiment  of 
getting  on  without  Calvin  before.  The  Libertines  even 
drew  back.  The  magistrates  hesitated  and  dared  not  carry 
out  their  decision.  Debates  as  to  where  the  power  of  ex- 
communication ought  to  be  lodged,  whether  with  the  con- 
sistory or  the  council,  continued  for  two  years.  In  1555  the 
councils  of  Geneva  agreed  that  the  power  belonged  of  right 
to  the  consistory. 

We  remember  that  the  period  of  this  struggle  over  dis- 
cipline was  one  prolific  of  books.  We  wonder  that  in  the 
midst  of  commotions  as  numerous,  continued  and  great  as 
those  experienced  by  any  political  agitator,  Calvin  showed 
all  his  stupendous  power  for  calm,  unruffled,  penetrating 
and  profound  thought.  We  see  some  evidence  in  the  cause 
of  our  wonder,  however,  that  through  all  these  struggles 
Calvin  maintained  a  consciousness  of  rectitude,  a  con- 
sciousness of  his  fighting  the  Lord's  battles.  One  element 
of  strength  with  him  was  the  belief  of  his  enemies  in  this 
consciousness  of  duty  on  Calvin's  part.  The  majesty  of  his 
character  helped  to  overawe  them. 

§  19.     The  Death  of  His  Wife  in  1549. 
We  have  had  occasion  to  speak  of  the  circumstances  of 
Mrs.  Calvin's  death  in  another  connection.     We  take  up 

*  Quoted  in  Guizot:   St.  Louis  and  John  Calvin,  pp.  281,  282. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  63 

the  subject  here  to  speak  more  particularly  of  the  effect  of 
her  death  on  Calvin.    Bungener  says : 

"The  remembrance  of  her  whom  he  had  lost  was  never 
effaced  from  his  heart ;  though  still  young,  he  never  formed 
other  ties,  and  never  pronounced  the  name  of  Idelette  but 
with  profound  regard  for  her  virtues  and  with  tender  re- 
spect for  her  memory. 

"Never  was  homage  more  legitimate,  never  regrets  more 
deserved.  In  losing  Idelette  de  Bure,  Calvin  not  only  lost 
the  companion  of  his  ministry  and  life,  he  also  lost  a  virtue. 
If  the  mission  of  the  Christian  woman  is  to  console  and 
bless,  to  remind  men  of  the  rights  of  charity — too  much 
neglected  in  the  ages  of  revolution — none  were  worthier 
than  Idelette  to  carry  out  this  mission  at  the  reformer's 
side.  Often  sick  and  morose  and  soured  by  the  resistance 
of  men  and  things  which  bend  but  slowly  to  the  designs  of 
genius,  Calvin  lost  too  early  those  domestic  affections  for 
which  he  was  so  well  calculated  and  of  which  he  experi- 
enced the  salutary  influence  only  for  nine  years.  Many  a 
time  doubtless  during  those  years  of  heroic  conflict  and 
of  secret  despondency,  of  which  his  correspondence  repro- 
duces the  phases,  he  regained  his  calmness  by  the  side  of 
the  courageous  and  gentle  woman  who  made  no  compro- 
mise with  duty.  Many  a  time,  perhaps,  he  was  tempered 
and  softened  by  one  of  those  words  which  come  from  the 
heart  and  of  which  woman  possesses  the  secret !  And  when 
at  length,  in  gloomier  days,  the  controversies  of  opinions 
commingled  with  the  shock  of  parties,  raised  up  Bolsec, 
Servetus  and  Gentilis,  who  can  say  how  much  the  reformer 
was  in  want  of  the  counsels  and  kindly  influence  of  Idelette 
de  Bure  ?"  * 

Bungener  probably  overstates  her  influence ;  but  it  was 
great.  Calvin  was  lonely  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  not  cared 
for  as  he  ought  to  have  been. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  his  wife  he  began  those  efforts  in 
behalf  of  the  union  of  the  Protestant  world  which  charac- 
terized the  last  period  of  his  own  life. 

*  Bungener :    Life  of  Calvin,  pp.  22,2,,  234. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Period  of  Calvin's  Great  Controversies  Waged 
WITH  THE  Purpose  of  Advancing  Union  Among 
Bodies  of  Evangelical  Christians  and  Maintain- 
ing THE  Truths  of  His  System,  i  549-1 564. 

§  20.     Calvin's  Labors  and  Achievements,  1 549-1 564. 

Calvin's  labors  during  this  period  were  in  considerable 
part  controversial  and  polemical,  but  with  the  double  end  of 
the  conservation  of  the  truth  and  the  union  of  all  Protestant 
bodies.  He  sent  forth  many  works,  indeed,  of  a  positive 
and  constructive  sort.  In  1559  he  completed  the  last  edi- 
tion of  the  "Institutes."  "In  1549,"  we  have  from  his  pen 
or  tongue,  commentaries  on  "the  Epistle  to  Titus,  and  that 
to  the  Hebrews;  in  1550,  the  Epistle  of  St.  James,  and  the 
two  to  the  Thessalonians ;  in  1551,  the  Epistles  of  St.  John 
and  St.  Jude,  and  a  new  edition  of  all  St.  Paul's  Epistles ; 
in  1552,  the  Acts;  in  1553,  St.  Matthew,  St.  Mark,  and 
St.  Luke,  which  were  arranged  as  a  harmony  and  supplied 
with  a  parallel  commentary,  followed  by  a  commentary  on 
St.  John;"*  in  1551,  a  commentary  on  Isaiah;  in  1554, 
a  commentary  on  Genesis.  Afterwards  came,  in  1557,  the 
Psalms,  and  the  same  year  the  Prophet  Hosea;  in  1559, 
the  twelve  minor  prophets;  in  1561,  Daniel;  in  1563,  Ex- 
odus, Leviticus,  Numbers,  Deuteronomy  and  Jeremiah, 
and  in  1564,  Joshua,  f  Several  and  extended  series  of 
sermons  appeared  between  1552  and  1564.  In  1550  a  trea- 
tise on  Eternal  Predestination  and  Providence  of  God,  and 
another  on  The  Christian  Life  appeared,  and  many  other 

*  Bungener :    Life  of  Calvin,  p.  282. 
t  Bungener :  Life  of  Calvin,  p.  326. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  65 

works  in  the  course  of  the  period  of  which  space  fails  us 
to  tell.  He  was  also  influencing  as  before  the  civil  and  in- 
dustrial life  of  Geneva.  Not  a  law  was  passed  without  the 
consultation  of  Mr.  Calvin.  No  new  business  enterprise 
was  permitted  without  Mr.  Calvin's  advice.  Robert 
Stephens  consults  Mr.  Calvin  on  printing  and  receives 
help.  The  council  asks  Mr.  Calvin  to  be  present  at  the  ex- 
amination of  a  surgeon  who  will  practice  in  Geneva.  A 
dentist,  with  the  new  art  of  repairing  and  preserving  the 
teeth  will  ply  his  new  art  in  Geneva.  He  is  sent  to  Mr. 
Calvin.  Calvin  puts  himself  into  the  hands  of  the  dentist, 
approves  his  work,  and  recommends  him  to  the  magis- 
trates.* 

Calvin's  labors  as  the  head  of  the  Reformation  movement 
in  Western  Christendom  entailed  on  him  at  this  time  vast 
expenditure  of  energy.  Luther  was  dead.  Calvin  was  the 
only  great  leader  living.  He  made  it  his  business  to  fur- 
ther the  movement  in  Great  Britain,  Poland,  Holland,  all 
Switzerland,  South  Germany,  and  especially  in  France. 
He  wrote  long  letters  to  Somerset  and  did  much  to  forward 
reform  in  the  kingdom  of  the  young  Edward ;  corres- 
ponded with  the  king  of  Poland  in  the  interest  of  reform 
there,  directed  the  movement  in  France,  sending  hosts  of 
preachers  and  giving  them  a  form  of  polity  and  a  confes- 
sion. In  1559  he  founded  the  Academy  and  College  of 
Geneva. 

But  over  and  above  these  pacific  labors  Calvin  poured 
himself  out  in  efforts  for  the  union  of  Protestantism. 
These  efforts  at  times  took  irenical  forms,  but  at  other 
times  assumed  that  of  pole'mics.  No  man  longed  more  for 
the  union  of  the  Protestant  world  than  John  Calvin ;  but  he 
desired  union  on  the  basis  of  the  truth.  Hence  in  part  his 
intense  animosity  toward  radical  error.  There  were  two 
inspiring  causes  of  his  hatred  of  error :  error  took  the  place 
of  truth  and  Calvin  loved  truth,  and  error  rent  the  body  of 

*  Bungener :  Life  of  Calvin,  p.  330. 


66  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

Christ,  the  church,  and  so  dishonored  the  Redeemer  God, 
and  Calvin  loved  God  with  all  his  heart. 

This  was  the  period  of  his  great  controversies  against 
errors  in  Protestantism.  The  period  was  ushered  in  by  his 
struggle  in  behalf  of  church  union  resulting  in  the  agree- 
ment with  the  Zurichers.  In  it  occurred  the  first  great  con- 
troversy— that  concerning  predestination — with  Bolsec,  and 
the  second  great  controversy — on  the  Trinity — 1553,  with 
Servetus.  Then  followed  smaller  controversies  on  the 
Trinity  with  Matthaeus  Gribaldi,  Blandrata,  Gentilis  and 
others.  During  this  period  also  (1556  and  following)  oc- 
curred the  controversies  with  Westphal  and  Hesshus  on  the 
doctrine  of  the  sacrament.  In  the  course  of  these  years 
also,  as  has  been  shown,  the  final  struggle  with  the  Liber- 
tines took  place. 

In  the  remaining  portion  of  this  sketch  we  shall  describe 
briefly  the  Zurich  Confession  as  an  example  of  Calvin's 
irenical  work.  We  shall  sketch  the  controversy  with  Ser- 
vetus to  illustrate  Calvin's  temper  in  this  part  of  his  labors, 
than  which  no  more  difficult  illustration  can  be  taken ;  and 
we  shall  finally  attempt  an  estimate  of  his  character. 

§  21.  The  Agreement  zvith  the  Zurichers  on  the  Lord's 
Supper;   an  Instance  of  Calvin's  Irenical  Efforts. 

Luther  had  reopened  the  sacramental  controversy  again 
in  the  year  1545  by  an  attack  on  the  Zwinglians.  They  had 
defended  themselves  by  a  sharp  reply.  Calvin  was  dis- 
pleased with  both  parties.  He  entered  into  correspondence 
on  the  subject  with  Bullinger,  and  on  Bullinger's  invitation 
he,  together  with  Farel,  went  to  Zurich  in  May,  1549. 
Both  parties  went  into  the  work  of  forming  a  creed  with 
an  admirable  spirit  of  frankness  and  forbearance.  They 
produced  the  so-called  "Consensus  Tigurinus,"  in  which 
the  view  of  Calvin  and  the  developed  view  of  Zwingli  are 
stated  in  harmony,  so  far  as  stated  at  all.  The  "Consensus" 
was  published  in  155 1.  It  was  adopted  by  all  the  reformed 
cantons  except  Bern.    It  passed  into  the  reformed  confes- 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  67 

sions,  and  remains  to  this  day  the  confessional  statement  of 
the  Reformed  Churches.  Dr.  Schaff  says,  "In  practice, 
however,  it  has  among  Presbyterians,  CongregationaUsts 
and  Baptists  largely  given  way  to  the  Zwinglian  view, 
which  is  more  plain  and  intelligible,  but  ignores  the  mysti- 
cal element  in  the  holy  communion."  * 

To  us  Calvin's  view  seems  to  have  differed  from  that 
taught  by  our  own  Dr.  Dabney  only  by  magnifying  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  communion  and  bringing  the 
sacrament  into  more  prominent  connection  with  our  in- 
grafting into  Christ.  Not  that  Dabney  makes  nothing  of 
these,  but  that  Calvin  made  more. 

Calvin's  view  of  the  mystical  union  between  Christ  and 
the  believer  was  a  very  high  one.  He  loved  to  dwell  on 
those  scriptures  which  set  forth  the  believer's  relation  to 
Christ,  "We  are  members  of  his  body,  his  flesh  and  his 
bones."  "I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches,"  etc.  Calvin 
held  that  this  union  is  produced  by  the  Holy  Spirit  with 
whom  Christ  baptizes,  the  Holy  Spirit  using  as  his  instru- 
ments the  word  and  sacraments.  Calvin  did  not  explain 
this  union.  He  teaches  that  Paul  himself  wondered  at 
rather  than  explained  it.  f 

Calvin's  view  of  the  mystical  union  has  often  been  mis- 
represented as  a  kind  of  Christo-Pantheism,  involving  a 
transfusion  of  the  substance  of  Christ  into  the  believer. 
But  Calvin  was  no  pantheist.  No  man  was  farther  from 
it.  Moreover,  more  than  once  he  distinctly  repudiates  the 
idea  of  transfusion  of  substance.  For  example,  both  in  the 
^'Consensus  Tigurinus"  and  in  the  exposition  of  it.  In  the 
'"Exposition"  he  says,  "But  here  again,  as  the  minds  of 
men  always  conceive  grossly  of  the  heavenly  mysteries  of 
God,  it  was  necessary  to  obviate  delirious  dreams.  With 
this  view  we  laid  down  the  definition  that  what  we  say  of 
the  partaking  of  Christ's  flesh  must  not  be  understood  as 

*  Schaff:    Vol.  VII.,  p.  593- 

t  Calvin :  Institutes,  Book  IV.,  Chap,  xvii.,  Sees.  7,  ff. 


68  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

if  any  commingling  or  transfusion  of  substance  took  place, 
but  that  we  draw  life  from  the  flesh  once  offered  in  sacri- 
fice. If  any  one  is  displeased  with  this  explanation,  I  say, 
first,  that  he  has  some  fiction  of  his  own  brain  which  is  no- 
where taught  in  scripture,  and  by  no  means  accords  with 
the  analogy  of  faith ;  and  I  say,  second,  that  it  is  too  pre- 
sumptuous, after  taking  up  a  meaning  at  random,  to  lay 
down  the  law  to  others.  If  they  insist  that  the  substance  of 
the  flesh  of  Christ  is  commingled  with  the  soul  of  man  in 
how  many  absurdities  will  they  involve  themselves  ?"  .  .  . 
"We  acknowledge  that  the  sacred  union  which  we  have 
with  Christ  is  incomprehensible  to  carnal  sense.  His  join- 
ing us  with  him  so  as  not  only  to  instill  his  life  into  us,  but 
to  make  us  one  with  himself,  we  grant  to  be  a  mystery  too 
sublime  for  our  comprehension,  except  in  so  far  as  his 
words  reveal  it;  but  are  we  therefore  to  dream  that  his 
substance  is  transferred  into  us  or  that  he  is  defiled  by  our 
impurities  ?"  * 

We  might  collect  a  world  of  proofs.  Calvin  was  no  pan- 
theist either  in  his  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  or  of  the 
mystical  union.  He  occasionally  used  figures  which  might 
be  unduly  pressed  contrary  to  his  meaning,  but  in  this  he 
had  inspired  precedent.  His  figures  were  good  for  his  pur- 
pose to  set  forth  the  closeness  and  intimacy  of  the  relation- 
ship between  Christ  and  the  believer.  He  frankly  and 
humbly  confessed  his  inability  to  comprehend  this  union. 
He  contemned,  in  the  most  outspoken  way,  any  pantheistic 
explanation  as  to  the  mode. 

Calvin's  notion  of  the  mystical  union  and  his  notion  that 
the  sacrament  is  an  instrumentality  of  the  Spirit  in  in- 
creasing the  union  gave  him  a  sympathy  with  the  Lutheran 
denials  that  the  sacraments  should  be  regarded  as  mere 
external  marks  of  profession  and  not  also  badges  and  sym- 
bols of  divine  grace;  that  they  are  mere  empty  symbols, 
and  that  God  does  not  truly  testify  in  them  what  he  figures, 

*  Calvin's  Tracts,  Vol.  II.,  p.  239. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  69 

and  by  his  secret  agency  perform  and  fulfill  what  he  tes- 
tifies.* 

Luther  had  misunderstood  the  Zwinglian  view,  and  de- 
claimed against  it  as  though  Zwingli  saw  in  the  sacraments 
external  marks  of  profession  and  empty  symbols  merely. 
Zwingli's  exhibition  of  the  Lord's  Supper  had  been  inade- 
quate at  first,  but  it  had  grown  to  be  something  like  the  true 
view  in  his  own  life  time,  as  is  clear  from  his  Confession 
sent  to  Francis  L  shortly  before  his  death. 

In  1549  Calvin,  perceiving  the  essential  correctness  of 
the  contemporary  Zurich  or  Zwinglian  view,  and  yet  sym- 
pathizing with  Luther's  war  on  the  bare  earlier  view  as  he 
understood  it,  and  remaining  true  to  what  had  been  distinc- 
tive in  his  own  view  of  the  sacrament — the  emphasis  of  the 
union  in  the  communion  between  the  believer  and  Christ 
effected  by  the  Spirit — wrote  the  "Consensus  Tigurinus," 
or  Zurich  Confession,  which  has  become  the  formal  creed 
of  the  Reformed  Churches. 

It  is  of  such  general  interest  and  intrinsic  importance 
that  we  incorporate  it  entire  without  apology. 

The  "Consensus  Tigurinus."  Written  by  Calvin  in  1549  for 
THE  Purpose  of  Uniting  all  Branches  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  a  Common  Doctrine  as  to  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Heads  of  Agreement. 

I.  The  Whole  Spiritual  Government  of  the  Church  Leads  us  to 
Christ. 

Seeing  that  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law,  and  the  knowledge  of 
him  comprehends  in  itself  the  whole  sum  of  the  gospel,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  object  of  the  whole  spiritual  government  of  the 
church  is  to  lead  us  to  Christ,  as  it  is  by  him  alone  we  come  to 
God,  who  is  the  final  end  of  a  happy  life.  Whosoever  deviates 
from  this  in  the  slightest  degree  can  never  speak  duly  or  appositely 
of  any  ordinance  of  God. 

*  Calvin's  Tracts,  Vol.  II.,  p.  224. 


70         Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

2.  A  True  Knowledge  of  the  Sacraments  from  the  Knoivlcdge 
of  Christ. 

As  the  sacraments  are  appendages  of  the  gospel,  he  only  can 
discourse  aptly  and  usefully  of  their  nature,  virtue,  office  and  ben- 
efit who  begins  with  Christ,  and  that  not  by  adverting  cursorily  to 
the  name  of  Christ,  but  by  truly  holding  for  what  end  he  was  given 
us  by  the  Father  and  what  blessings  he  has  conferred  upon  us. 

3.  Nature  of  the  Knowledge  of  Christ. 

We  must  hold  therefore  that  Christ,  being  the  eternal  Son  of 
God,  and  of  the  same  essence  and  glory  with  the  Father,  assumed 
our  flesh  to  communicate  to  us  by  right  of  adoption  that  which  he 
possessed  by  nature,  namely,  to  make  us  sons  of  God.  This  is  done 
when  ingrafted  by  faith  into  the  body  of  Christ,  and  that  by  the 
agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  we  are  first  counted  righteous  by  a  free 
imputation  of  righteousness  and  then  regenerated  to  a  new  life, 
whereby,  being  formed  again  in  the  image  of  our  heavenly  Father, 
we  renounce  the  old  man. 

4.  Christ  a  Priest  and  King. 

Thus  Christ  in  his  human  nature  is  to  be  considered  as  our 
priest,  who  expiated  our  sins  by  the  one  sacrifice  of  his  death,  put 
away  all  our  transgressions  by  his  obedience,  provided  a  perfect 
righteousness  for  us,  and  now  intercedes  for  us,  that  we  may  have 
access  to  God.  He  is  to  be  considered  as  a  repairer,  who  by  the 
agency  of  his  Spirit  reforms  whatever  is  vicious  in  us  that  we  may 
cease  to  live  to  the  world  and  the  flesh  and  God  himself  may  live 
in  us.  He  is  to  be  considered  as  a  king  who  enriches  us  with  all 
kinds  of  blessings,  governs  and  defends  us  by  his  power,  provides 
us  with  spifitual  weapons,  delivers  us  from  all  harm,  and  rules  and 
guides  us  by  the  sceptre  of  his  mouth ;  and  he  is  to  be  so  con- 
sidered, that  he  may  raise  us  to  himself,  the  true  God,  and  to  the 
Father,  until  the  fulfilment  of  what  is  finally  to  take  place,  viz., 
God  be  all  and  in  all. 

5.  How  Christ  Communicates  Himself  to  Us. 

Moreover,  that  Christ  may  thus  exhibit  himself  to  us  and  pro- 
duce these  effects  in  us,  he  must  be  made  one  with  us,  and  we  must 
be  ingrafted  into  his  body.  He  does  not  infuse  his  life  into  us 
unless  he  is  our  head,  and  from  him  the  whole  body,  fitly  joined 
together,  through  every  joint  of  supply  according  to  his  working, 
maketh  increase  of  the  body  in  the  proportion  of  each  member. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  71 

6.  Spiritual  Communion — Institution  of  the  Sacraments. 

The  spiritual  communion  which  we  have  with  the  Son  of  God 
takes  place  when  he,  dwelling  in  us  by  his  Spirit,  makes  all  who 
believe  capable  of  all  the  blessings  which  reside  in  him.  In  order 
to  testif}'^  this,  both  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  was  appointed  and 
the  use  of  the  sacraments  committed  to  us,  namely,  the  sacraments 
of  holy  baptism  and  the  holy  supper. 

7.  The  Ends  of  the  Sacraments. 

The  ends  of  the  sacraments  are  to  be  marks  and  badges  of  Chris- 
tian profession  and  fellowship  or  fraternity,  to  be  incitements  to 
gratitude  and  exercises  of  faith  and  a  godly  life;  in  short,  to  be 
contracts  binding  us  to  this.  But  among  other  ends  the  principal 
one  is  that  God  may,  by  means  of  them,  testify,  represent,  and  seal 
his  grace  to  us.  For,  although  they  signify  nothing  else  than  is 
announced  to  us  by  the  word  itself,  yet  it  is  a  great  matter,  first, 
that  there  is  submitted  to  our  eye  a  kind  of  living  images  which 
make  a  deeper  impression  on  the  senses,  by  bringing  the  object  in 
a  manner  directly  before  them,  while  they  bring  the  death  of  Christ 
and  all  his  benefits  to  our  remembrance,  that  faith  may  be  better 
exercised ;  and,  secondly,  that  what  the  mouth  of  God  had  an- 
nounced is,  as  it  were,  confirmed  and  ratified  by  seals. 

8.  Gratitude. 

Now,  seeing  that  these  things  which  the  Lord  has  given  as 
testimonies  and  seals  of  his  grace  are  true,  he  undoubtedly  truly 
performs  inwardly  by  his  Spirit  that  which  the  sacraments  figure 
to  our  eyes  and  other  senses ;  in  other  words,  we  obtain  possession 
of  Christ  as  the  fountain  of  all  blessings,  both  in  order  that  we 
may  be  reconciled  to  God  by  means  of  his  death,  be  renewed  by  his 
Spirit  to  holiness  of  life ;  in  short,  obtain  righteousness  and  salva- 
tion and  also  in  order  that  we  may  give  thanks  for  the  blessings 
which  were  once  exhibited  on  the  cross,  and  which  we  daily  receive 
by  faith. 

9.  The  Signs  and  the  Things  Signitied  not  Disjoined,  but  Dis- 
tinct. 

Wherefore,  though  we  distinguish  between  the  signs  and  the 
things  signified,  as  we  ought,  yet  we  do  not  disjoin  the  reality  from 
the  signs,  but  acknowledge  that  all  who  in  faith  embrace  the  prom- 
ises there  offered  receive  Christ  spiritually,  with  his  spiritual  gifts, 
while  those  who  had  long  been  made  partakers  of  Christ  continue 
and  renew  that  communion. 


'j'Z  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

10.  The  Promise  Principally  to  be  Looked  to  in  the  Sacraments. 
And  it  is  proper  to  look  not  to  the  bare  signs,  but  rather  to  the 

promise  thereto  annexed.  As  far,  therefore,  as  our  faith  in  the 
promise  there  offered  prevails,  so  far  will  that  virtue  and  efficacy 
of  which  we  speak  display  itself.  Thus  the  substance  of  water, 
bread  and  wine  by  no  means  offers  Christ  to  us,  nor  makes  us 
capable  of  his  spiritual  gifts.  The  promise  rather  is  to  be  looked 
to,  whose  office  it  is  to  lead  us  to  Christ  by  the  direct  way  of  faith — 
faith  which  makes  us  partakers  of  Christ. 

11.  We  are  not  to  Stand  Gazing  07i  the  Elements. 

This  refutes  the  error  of  those  who  stand  gazing  on  the  elements, 
and  attach  their  confidence  of  salvation  to  them ;  seeing  that  the 
sacraments  separated  from  Christ  are  but  empty  shows,  and  a 
voice  is  distinctly  heard  throughout  proclaiming  that  we  must 
adhere  to  none  but  Christ  alone  and  seek  the  gift  of  salvation  from 
none  but  him. 

12.  The  Sacraments  Effect  Nothing  by  Themselves. 

Besides,  if  any  good  is  conferred  upon  us  by  the  sacraments, 
it  is  not  owing  to  any  proper  virtue  in  them,  even  though  in  this 
you  should  include  the  promise  by  which  they  are  distinguished ; 
for  it  is  God  alone  who  acts  by  his  Spirit.  When  he  uses  the  in- 
strumentality of  the  sacraments,  he  neither  infuses  his  own  virtue 
into  them  nor  derogates  in  any  respect  from  the  effectual  working 
of  his  Spirit,  but,  in  adaptation  to  our  weakness,  uses  them  as 
helps ;  in  such  manner,  however,  that  the  whole  power  of  acting 
remains  with  him  alone. 

13.  God  Uses  the  Instrument,  but  All  the  Virtue  is  His. 
Wherefore,  as  Paul  reminds  us,  that  neither  he  that  planteth  nor 

he  that  watereth  is  anything,  but  God  alone  that  giveth  the  increase, 
so  also  it  is  to  be  said  of  the  sacraments  that  they  are  nothing  be- 
cause they  will  profit  nothing  unless  God  in  all  things  make  them 
effectual.  They  are  indeed  instruments  by  which  God  acts  effica- 
ciously when  he  pleases,  yet  so  that  the  whole  work  of  our  salva- 
tion must  be  ascribed  to  him  alone. 

14.  The  Whole  Accomplished  by  Christ. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  it  is  Christ  alone  who  in  truth  baptizes 
inwardly,  who  in  the  Supper  makes  us  partakers  of  himself,  who, 
in  short,  fulfils  what  the  sacraments  figure,  and  uses  their  aid  in 
such  manner  that  the  whole  effect  resides  in  his  Spirit. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  73 

15.  How  the  Sacraments  Confirm. 

Thus  the  sacraments  are  sometimes  called  seals,  and  are  said 
to  nourish,  confirm  and  advance  faith,  and  yet  the  Spirit  alone  is 
properly  the  seal,  and  also  the  begiimer  and  finisher  of  faith.  For 
all  these  attributes  of  the  sacraments  sink  down  to  a  lower  place, 
so  that  not  even  the  smallest  portion  of  our  salvation  is  transferred 
to  creatures  or  elements. 

16.  All  Who  Partake  of  the  Sacraments  do  not  Partake  of  the 
Reality. 

Besides,  we  carefully  teach  that  God  does  not  exert  his  power 
indiscriminately  in  all  who  receive  the  sacraments,  but  only  in  the 
elect ;  for  as  he  enlightens  unto  faith  none  but  those  whom  he  hath 
foreordained  to  life,  so  by  the  secret  agency  of  his  Spirit  he  makes 
the  elect  receive  what  the  sacraments  offer. 

17.  The  Sacraments  do  not  Confer  Grace. 

By  this  doctrine  is  overthrown  that  fiction  of  the  Sophists  which 
teaches  that  the  sacraments  confer  grace  on  all  who  do  not  inter- 
pose the  obstacle  of  mortal  sin;  for  besides  that  in  the  sacraments 
nothing  is  received  except  by  faith,  we  must  also  hold  that  the 
grace  of  God  is  by  no  means  so  annexed  to  them  that  whoso  re- 
ceives the  sign  also  gains  possession  of  the  thing ;  for  the  signs  are 
administered  alike  to  reprobate  and  elect,  but  the  reality  reaches  the 
latter  only. 

18.  The  Gifts  offered  to  All,  but  Received  by  Believers  Only. 

It  is  true  indeed  that  Christ  with  his  gifts  is  offered  to  all  in 
common,  and  that  the  unbelief  of  man  not  overthrowing  the  truth 
of  God,  the  sacraments  always  retain  their  efficacy;  but  all  are 
not  capable  of  receiving  Christ  and  his  gifts.  Wherefore  nothing 
is  changed  on  the  part  of  God,  but  in  regard  to  man  each  receives 
according  to  the  measure  of  his  faith. 

19.  Believers  Before  and  Without  the  Use  of  the  Sacraments 
Communicate  with  Christ. 

As  the  use  of  the  sacraments  will  confer  nothing  more  on  un- 
believers than  if  they  had  abstained  from  it,  nay,  is  only  destructive 
to  them,  so  without  their  use  believers  receive  the  reality  which 
is  there  figured.  Thus  the  sins  of  Paul  were  washed  away  by  bap- 
tism, though  they  had  been  previously  washed  away.  So  likewise 
baptism  was  the  laver  of  regeneration  to  Cornelius,  though  he  had 
already  received  the  Holy  Spirit.    So  in  the  Supper  Christ  commu- 


74  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

nicates  himself  to  us,  though  he  had  previously  imparted  himself, 
and  perpetually  remains  in  us;  for,  seeing  that  each  is  enjoined  to 
examine  himself,  it  follows  that  faith  is  required  of  each  before 
coming  to  the  sacrament.  Faith  is  not  without  Christ;  but  inas- 
much as  faith  is  confirmed  and  increased  by  the  sacraments,  the 
gifts  of  God  are  confirmed  in  us,  and  thus  Christ  in  a  manner 
grows  in  us  and  we  in  him. 

20.  The  Benefit  not  Ahvays  Received  in  the  Act  of  Communicat- 
ing. 

The  advantage  which  we  receive  from  the  sacraments  ought  by 
no  means  to  be  restricted  to  the  time  at  which  they  are  admin- 
istered to  us,  just  as  if  the  visible  sign,  at  the  moment  when  it  is 
brought  forward,  brought  the  grace  of  God  along  with  it ;  for  those 
who  were  baptized  when  mere  infants  God  regenerates  in  child- 
hood or  adolescence,  occasionally  even  in  old  age.  Thus  the  utility 
of  baptism  is  open  to  the  whole  period  of  life,  because  the  promise 
contained  in  it  is  perpetually  in  force;  and  it  may  sometimes 
happen  that  the  use  of  the  holy  Supper,  which,  from  thoughtless- 
ness or  slowness  of  heart,  does  little  good  at  the  time,  afterwards 
bears  its  fruit. 

21.  No  Local  Presence  Must  he  Imagined. 

We  must  guard  particularly  a-gainst  the  idea  of  any  local  pres- 
ence; for  while  the  signs  are  present  in  this  world,  are  seen  by 
the  eyes  and  handled  by  the  hands,  Christ,  regarded  as  man,  must 
be  sought  nowhere  else  than  in  heaven,  and  not  otherwise  than 
with  the  mind  and  eye  of  faith.  Wherefore  it  is  a  perverse  and 
impious  institution  to  enclose  him  under  the  elements  of  this 
world. 

22.  Explanation  of  the  Words,  "This  is  My  Body." 

Those  who  insist  that  the  formal  words  of  the  Supper,  "This  is  my 
body ;  this  is  my  blood,"  are  to  be  taken  in  what  they  call  the  pre- 
cisely literal  sense  we  repudiate  as  preposterous  interpreters;  for 
we  hold  it  out  of  controversy  that  they  are  to  be  taken  figuratively 
— the  bread  and  wine  receiving  the  name  of  that  which  they  sig- 
nify. Nor  should  it  be  thought  a  new  or  unwonted  thing  to 
transfer  the  name  of  things  figured  by  metonymy  to  the  sign,  as 
similar  modes  of  expression  occur  throughout  the  scriptures,  and 
we  by  so  saying  assert  nothing  but  what  is  found  in  the  most  an- 
cient and  most  approved  writers  of  the  church. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  75 

2.2,.  Of  the  Eating  of  the  Body. 

When  it  is  said  that  Christ,  by  our  eating  of  his  flesh  and  drink- 
ing of  his  blood,  which  are  here  figured,  feeds  our  souls  through 
faith  by  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  are  not  to  understand 
it  as  if  any  mingling  or  transfusion  of  substance  took  place,  but 
that  we  draw  life  from  the  flesh  once  offered  in  sacrifice  and  the 
blood  shed  in  expiation. 

24.  Transtibstantiation  and  Other  Follies. 

In  this  way  are  refuted  not  only  the  fiction  of  the  papists  con- 
cerning transubstantiation,  but  all  the  gross  figments  and  futile 
quibbles  which  either  derogate  from  his  celestial  glory  or  are  in 
some  degree  repugnant  to  the  reality  of  his  human  nature ;  for  we 
deem  it  no  less  absurd  to  place  Christ  under  the  bread  or  couple 
him  with  the  bread  than  to  transubstantiate  the  bread  into  his  body. 

25.  The  Body  of  Christ  Locally  in  Heaven. 

And  that  no  ambiguity  may  remain  when  we  say  that  Christ  is 
to  be  sought  in  heaven,  the  expression  implies  and  is  understood  by 
us  to  intimate  distance  of  place ;  for  though,  philosophically  speak- 
ing, there  is  no  place  above  the  skies,  yet  as  the  body  of  Christ, 
bearing  the  nature  and  mode  of  a  human  body,  is  finite  and  is  con- 
tained in  heaven  as  its  place,  it  is  necessarily  distant  from  us  in 
point  of  space  as  heaven  is  from  earth. 

26.  Christ  not  to  be  Adored  in  the  Bread. 

If  it  is  not  lawful  to  affix  Christ  in  our  imagination  to  the  bread 
and  wine,  much  less  is  it  lawful  to  worship  him  in  the  bread;  for 
although  the  bread  is  held  forth  to  us  as  a  symbol  and  pledge  of 
the  communion  which  we  have  with  Christ,  yet  as  it  is  a  sign  and 
not  the  thing  itself,  and  has  not  the  thing  either  included  in  it  or 
fixed  to  it,  those  who  turn  their  minds  towards  it  with  the  view  of 
worshipping  Christ  make  an  idol  of  it. 

In  this  document  Calvin  made  no  compromise;  nor  can 
the  Zurichers  be  said  to  have  made  any.  One  element  of 
their  past  creed  on  the  Lord's  Supper — the  activity  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  order  to  profitable  communion — received 
new  emphasis.    That  was  Calvin's  distinctive  element. 

There  is  a  deal  of  confusion  in  the  minds  of  modern  the- 
ologians as  to  Calvin's  view  of  the  Supper.  It  is  commonly 
supposed  that  his  earlier  view  was  closer  akin  to  the  Luth- 


76  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

eran  view;  that  in  the  "Consensus  Tigurinus"  he  draws 
nearer  the  Zwinghan.  Some  even  hold  that  later  he  tended 
toward  the  Lutheran  view  again.  They  tell  us  that  on  this 
subject  he  was  swayed  by  his  great  desires  for  union,  now 
with  the  Lutherans  and  again  with  the  Swiss ;  but  such 
men  can  know  neither  Calvin  nor  his  teaching. 

Calvin  did  deplore  the  divisions  in  the  Protestant  camp 
greatly.  He  would  have  healed  all  divisions  in  the  Protes- 
tant ranks  by  the  general  inculcation  of  the  truth;  but  to 
get  Zurich  and  Geneva  together  Calvin  would  never  have 
compromised  an  iota  of  truth.  In  the  preface  to  the  "Ex- 
position" of  the  "Consensus"  he  says  "We  are  all  agreed 
that  peace  is  not  to  be  purchased  by  the  sacrifice  of  truth ; 
and  hence  I  acknowledge  that  better  were  heaven  con- 
founded with  earth  than  that  the  defence  of  sound  doctrine 
should  be  abandoned.  Whosoever  heartily  and  strenuously 
opposes  sophistical  quibbles,  which  conciliate  by  giving  a 
gloss  to  erroneous  doctrine,  I  blame  not;  nay,  rather,  I 
claim  for  myself  this  praise,  that  there  is  scarcely  an  in- 
dividual who  can  take  more  pleasure  than  I  do  in  a  candid 
confession  of  the  truth."  * 

Had  Calvin  and  the  Zurichers  not  both  honestly  accepted 
the  "Consensus"  of  1549,  he  could  not  have  written  them 
as  he  did  in  1554,  viz.,  "But  assume  that  there  was  formerly 
some  discordance,  because  the  thing  could  not  be  cleared  up 
at  first  glance  and  disposed  of,  what  humanity  is  there  in 
reopening  a  sore  which  was  closed  up  and  cured  ?  In  order 
that  the  faithful  might  not  be  distracted  by  disputes  which 
have  only  too  much  prevailed,  we  proposed  to  them  our 
agreement  by  which  they  could  hold.  This  good  zealot  saw 
clearly  that  all  whom  he  styles  Sacramentarians  have  one 
same  faith  and  confess  it  as  with  one  same  mouth,  and  even 
if  the  two  excellent  doctors,  Zwinglius  and  Qicolampadius, 
who  were  known  to  be  faithful  servants  of  Jesus  Christ, 
were  still  alive,  they  would  not  change  one  word  of  our 

*  Calvin's  Tracts,  Vol.  II.,  p.  222. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  ']'j 

doctrine.  For  our  good  brother  of  blessed  memory,  Martin 
Bucer,  after  seeing  our  agreement,  wrote  me  that  it  was  an 
inestimable  blessing  for  the  whole  church.  Wherefore 
there  is  more  malice  in  this  new  corrector  *  thus  stirring 
up  odium  on  account  of  it.    .    .    . 

"On  the  whole,  my  dear  and  honored  brethren,  as  we 
ought  to  take  at  least  as  much  pains  in  maintaining  the 
truth  and  cherishing  concord  as  Satan  in  striving  to  ruin 
both,  I  have  wished  to  do  what  was  in  my  power,  and  also 
try,  if  peradventure  those  who  have  hitherto  been  of  too 
obstinate  a  temper  might  be  tamed ;  if  not,  that  those  who 
are  of  sound  judgment  should  be  furnished  with  the  de- 
fence of  our  cause  so  as  to  be  the  better  able  to  stop  their 
mouths. 

"This  blockhead,  of  whom  I  am  sorry  to  speak  so  often, 
reproaches  us  with  having  such  an  abyss  of  opinions  that 
no  one  understands  what  his  companion  would  say.  Now, 
methinks,  I  know  so  well  what  you  believe  and  hold  that 
I  am  confident  of  having  here  written  down  what  each  of 
you  would  write  in  the  same  place ;  for  I  have  not  usurped 
the  office  of  dictating  what  you  are  to  confess  after  me,  but 
rather  refer  the  whole  to  your  discretion.  I  have,  however, 
proceeded  boldly  to  compose  this  short  treatise  [the  "Ex- 
position"] because  by  former  experience  I  had  learned  how 
agreeable  my  labors  had  been  to  you,  and  that  you  had  also 
sufficiently  declared  it  to  be  so."  f 

Nobody  who  knows  John  Calvin  can  doubt,  since  he 
could  write  thus,  that  he  beheved  that  in  1554  he  stood 
where  he  had  in  1549.  Nor  can  any  one  read  the  "Insti- 
tutes," so  frequently  revised  before  this  and  revised  with 
great  care  after  this,  and  then  read  his  tracts  on  the  Supper, 
and  fail  to  see  that  in  Calvin's  own  view  his  doctrine  of  the 
Supper  in  the  "Consensus"  was  his  doctrine  of  the  Supper 
in  the  "Institutes." 

*  The  "corrector"  referred  to  here  had  been  making  an  attack 
on  the  "Consensus  Tigurinus." 
t  Tracts,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  210-212. 


78  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

There  is  in  the  "Institutes"  some  figurative  language 
employed  of  our  union  with  Christ  and  of  the  Supper.  He 
sets  his  doctrine  forth  with  great  plainness  in  the  "Con- 
sensus." He  sets  the  same  doctrine  forth  everywhere.  He 
taught  the  same  doctrine  always.  That  doctrine  is  also  the 
doctrine  of  our  standards ;  and  it  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
great  teachers  of  our  church,  save  that  Calvin  made  more 
of  the  need  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  order  to  our  getting  any 
good  out  of  the  ordinance,  in  order  to  the  deepening  of  our 
union  with  Christ  our  Head.  Calvin  made  much  of  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

For  a  time  he  hoped  that  this  "Consensus"  would  prevail 
also  in  Germany;   but  the  stricter  Lutherans  took  offence. 

§  22.  The  Controversy  zvith  Servetiis;  an  Illustration 
of  Calvin's  Honor  to  God's  Word  and  the  Unity  of  the 
Church. 

Calvin  stood  for  a  pure  doctrine  and  a  pure  discipline. 
"Under  pain  of  abdication,"  Rilliet  says,  "Calvin  must  do 
everything  rather  than  suffer  by  his  side  in  Geneva  a  man 
whom  he  considered  the  greatest  enemy  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  the  critical  position  in  which  he  saw  it  in  the 
bosom  of  the  republic  was  one  motive  more  to  remove,  if 
it  was  possible,  the  new  element  of  dissolution  which  the 
free  sojourn  of  Servetus  would  have  created.  .  .  .  To 
tolerate  Servetus  with  impunity  in  Geneva  would  have  been 
for  Calvin  to  exile  himself.  .  .  .  He  had  no  alternative. 
The  man  whom  a  Calvinist  accusation  had  caused  to  be 
arrested,  tried  and  condemned  to  the  flames  in  France  could 
not  find  an  asylum  in  the  city  from  which  that  accusation 
had  issued."  *  This  was  no  doubt  Calvin's  judgment.  The 
unity,  nay,  the  very  existence  of  the  church  of  Geneva,  as 
well  as  the  honor  of  God  and  his  word,  seemed  to  Calvin 
to  demand  of  him  all  he  did  in  the  case  of  Servetus. 

But  of  the  case  of  Servetus  more  in  detail : 

*  Quoted  in  Schaff :    Vol.  VII.,  pp.  765,  766. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  79 

Michael  Servetus  was  born  at  Villanueva,  a  city  of  Ara- 
gon,  in  the  year  1509.  He  received  his  early  education  in 
a  Dominican  convent.  Later,  being  destined  to  the  law  by 
his  father,  he  studied  at  Toulouse.  He  at  one  time  be- 
longed to  the  household  of  Quintana,  father  confessor  of 
the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  and  so  derived  his  support  from 
the  church.  Even  then,  according  to  his  own  testimony, 
he  regarded  the  Roman  Church  as  a  harlot  and  murderess. 
In  1530  he  appeared  at  Basle  and  worried  the  reformers. 
CEcolampadius,  Capito  and  Bucer,  and  Zwingli,  who  was 
on  a  visit  there  at  the  time,  by  his  "vain,  presumptuous  and 
argumentative  "  character  and  subversive  doctrines  con- 
cerning Christ.  During  1531  and  1532  he  was  frequently 
in  Basle,  sometimes  in  the  suite  of  the  emperor.  He  was 
very  ambitious.  He  regarded  himself  as  the  true  reformer. 
In  1 53 1  he  brought  out  his  first  work  on  the  "Errors  of  the 
Trinity,"  putting  his  real  name  on  the  title  page.  The  work 
was  a  bitter  attack  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  not  with- 
out a  certain  dash  and  plausibility,  but  vague  and  super- 
ficial. It  made  a  great  stir.  The  reformers  were  univer- 
sally indignant.  Bucer  declared  from  the  pulpit  that  the 
writer  deserved  to  be  torn  limb  from  limb.  The  govern- 
ment of  Basle  caused  the  book  to  be  seized.  The  author, 
however,  soon  published  another  work  in  which  he  ex- 
plained away  or  retracted  most  of  the  first,  not  as  wrong, 
but  as  immature.  This  second  work  repeated  the  attacks 
on  the  Trinity,  and  betrayed  a  wild  and  impious  pantheism. 
It  made  little  stir,  and  Servetus,  despairing  of  any  consid- 
erable success  in  Germany  or  Switzerland,  betook  himself 
to  France. 

He  was  in  Paris  in  1534  both  as  professor  and  student, 
receiving  instruction  in  medicine,  mathematics  and  astron- 
omy. He  became  distinguished  for  his  acute  perception, 
vivid  imagination  and  great  powers  of  acquisition,  and 
exuberance  in  theories,  some  ingenious  and  worthy,  others 
absurd.  He  conjectured  the  mode  of  the  blood's  circula- 
tion.    His  lectures  on  astronomy  and  mathematics  were 


8o         Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

mixtures  of  science  and  fancies.  While  his  gifts  of  mind 
and  speech  drew  students  to  his  rooms,  his  character  re- 
pelled them.  He  was  exacting,  and  arrogant,  and  self- 
complacent.  He  became  offensive  to  the  "Parliament"  of 
Paris,  and  they  forbade  him  to  teach  astrology  or  to  predict 
from  the  stars.  In  consequence  he  left  Paris,  resided  for 
short  periods  at  Lyons,  Avignon  and  Charlieu.  In  1542 
he  settled  at  Vienne  in  Duphine.  There  he  lived  twelve 
years  under  the  name  of  Villanueva,  conformed  outwardly 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  was  in  high  repute  as  a 
physician.  But  he  continued  to  busy  himself  in  schemes 
for  the  reform  of  Christianity.  He  gave  himself  to  the 
study  of  Revelation,  and  concluded  that  the  time  was  come 
for  a  great  struggle  in  the  church,  and  that  he  was  to  play  a 
big  part  in  that  struggle.  He  set  forth  his  multitudinous 
fancies  in  a  new  work  called  "Restoration  of  Christianity." 
Stahelin  gives  this  account  of  the  teaching  of  the  book, 
"The  fundamental  principle  of  the  whole  book  is  the  asser- 
tion of  the  one  absolute  and  indivisible  God.  It  would  be 
impossible  to  imagine  any  direct  action  of  God  upon  the 
world ;  he  is  separated  from  it  by  an  immeasurable  abyss. 
The  instruments  which  he  uses,  the  links  which  unite  the 
infinite  and  the  finite,  are  found  in  the  world  of  thought. 
Every  thought  or  idea  must  be  contemplated  as  a  personal 
reality,  having  its  origin  in  the  being  of  God,  and  itself  an 
image  of  his  eternal  essence.  Perfectly  distinct  and  yet 
not  separate  from  God,  these  ideas  animate  matter,  and 
thus  unite  it  to  God.  There  are,  therefore,  three  worlds, 
each  of  which  has  its  own  separate  existence,  although  they 
are  all  closely  united  one  to  the  other — God,  ideas,  and 
things  or  beings.  All  beings  are  contained  in  ideas,  all 
ideas  in  God ;  God  is  all  things,  and  all  things  are  God."  * 
Some  modern  apologists  for  Servetus  attempt  to  deny 
that  Servetus  was  a  pantheist ;  but  their  denial  does  not 
seem  well  founded.    The  author  who  can  say,  "As  the  word 

*  Quoted  in  Guizot:   St.  Louis  and  John  Calvin,  p.  299. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  8i 

of  God  is  essentially  man,  so  the  Spirit  of  God  is  essentially 
the  spirit  of  man.  By  the  power  of  the  resurrection  all  the 
primitive  elements  of  the  body  and  spirit  have  been  re- 
newed, glorified  and  immortalized,  and  all  these  are  com- 
municated to  us  by  Christ  in  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per. The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  breath  from  the  mouth  of 
Christ  (John  xx.  22).  As  God  breathes  into  man  the  soul 
with  the  air,  so  Christ  breathes  into  his  disciples  the  Holy 
Spirit  with  the  air.  .  .  .  The  deity  in  the  stone  is  the 
stone,  in  gold  it  is  gold,  in  the  wood  it  is  wood,  according 
to  the  proper  idea  of  things.  In  a  more  excellent  way  the 
deity  in  man  is  man,  in  the  spirit  it  is  spirit."  *  We  say  the 
man  who  could  talk  so  gave  John  Calvin  good  ground  for 
calling  him  a  pantheist,  which  he  did. 

In  his  anthropology  Servetus  was  a  Pelagian.  He  held 
to  baptismal  regeneration  with  the  Roman  Catholics ;  but 
he  rejected  infant  baptism  as  an  invention  of  the  devil  and 
the  second  root  of  all  the  corruptions  of  the  church. 

Calvin  and  Servetus  had  been  in  Paris  together  in  1534. 
The  antagonism  broke  out  there.  They  were  to  meet  in 
public  disputation,  but  Servetus  failed  to  keep  the  appoint- 
ment. Nevertheless,  owing  to  his  itch  to  come  into  rela- 
tions with  so  great  a  man  as  Calvin,  Servetus  wrote  him 
many  letters  between  1540  and  1546.  Calvin  answered  his 
letters,  but  was  careful  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  intimacy 
with  him.  He  was  not  hopeless  of  his  conversion,  knowing 
the  power  of  God's  Spirit.  This  is  shown  in  a  letter  of  his 
to  Frellon.  But  in  the  year  1548  the  correspondence  ap- 
pears to  have  wholly  ceased.  In  that  year  Calvin  writes  to 
Viret,  "I  suppose  you  have  read  the  answer  which  I  sent 
Servetus ;  it  was  my  wish  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with 
this  incurably  hard-necked,  heretical  man,  and  certainly  it 
was  well  to  follow  in  this  case  the  precept  of  the  apostle."  f 
Servetus   subsequently   sent   to   Calvin,   however,   a   copy 

*Rest,  182.    Quoted  in  Schaff:  Vol.  VII.,  p.  746. 
t  Henry:  Life  of  Calvin,  Vol.  II.,  p.  182. 


82  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

of  the  "Institutes"  full  of  marginal  notes  in  which  he  at- 
tacked the  doctrines  the  work  contained. 

The  publication  of  his  "Restitution  of  Christianity,"  be- 
tween September,  1552,  and  January,  1553,  without  name 
of  author  or  printer,  but  with  the  initial  letters  of  the  au- 
thor's name  and  country  at  the  end — M.  S.  V. — Michael 
Servetus,  Villanueva,  was  the  occasion  of  a  storm  both  at 
Lyons,  a  seat  of  Roman  Catholic  power,  and  at  Geneva. 

A  refugee  at  Geneva  twitted  a  Romanist  relative  at 
Lyons  with  indififerentism  on  the  part  of  the  Papal  Church 
of  Lyons  to  license.  He  instanced  and  described  the  case 
of  Servetus  and  his  works.  He  even  sent  the  first  four 
pages  of  the  "Restitution  of  Christianity"  to  prove  what 
Servetus  had  done. 

The  Catholic  authorities  at  Lyons  at  once  took  the  mat- 
ter in  hand.  Servetus  tried  to  lie  out  of  the  authorship; 
but  this  was  impossible.  Too  many  indications  pointed  to 
Servetus.  The  refugee  who  had  sent  the  first  leaves  of  the 
"Restitution"  was  appealed  to.  This  man  (William  de 
Trie)  answered  as  follows,  "When  I  wrote  the  letter  which 
you  communicated  to  those  who  were  in  it  accused  of  in- 
difference, I  did  not  think  that  the  matter  would  have  gone 
so  far.  My  only  intention  was  to  let  you  see  the  fine  zeal 
and  devotion  of  those  who  call  themselves  the  pillars  of  the 
church,  and  yet  allow  such  evils  to  exist  among  them, 
whilst  they  harshly  persecute  poor  Christians  who  desire 
nothing  more  than  to  serve  God  in  simplicity.  .  .  .  li 
the  printed  book  was  placed  before  him,  he  might  deny  it, 
but  he  cannot  deny  his  own  writing.  .  .  .  But  I  must 
confess  that  I  have  had  great  difficulty  in  obtaining  from 
Monsieur  Calvin  that  which  I  send  you;  not  that  he  is 
unwilling  that  such  execrable  blasphemy  should  be  pun- 
ished, but  that  it  seems  to  him  that,  since  he  does  not  wield 
the  sword  of  justice,  it  is  his  duty  to  confute  heresy  by 
sound  doctrine  rather  than  to  seek  to  extirpate  it  by  any 
other  method ;  but  I  have  importuned  him  so  greatly,  rep- 
resenting that  I  should  be  charged  with  making  reckless 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  83 

assertions  unless  he  come  to  my  aid,  that  at  length  he  has 
consented  to  give  up  that  which  I  send  you."  * 

The  matter  which  DeTrie  thought  so  important  were 
certain  pages  of  the  "Institutes"  annotated  in  Servetus' 
own  hand-writing,  and  certain  autograph  letters  from  Ser- 
vetus to  Calvin  in  which  he  maintained  the  very  notions 
maintained  in  the  "Restitution." 

Servetus  was  utterly  unable  to  defend  himself  against 
this  new  evidence.  After  some  pitiful  tergiversation,  he 
is  said  to  have  burst  into  tears  and  uttered  the  most  "un- 
expected lie,  denying  that  he  was  Servetus."  "I  will  tell 
you,"  said  he,  "the  whole  truth.  Twenty-five  years  ago 
when  I  was  in  Germany,  a  book  by  a  certain  Servetus,  a 
Spaniard,  was  published  at  Hagenau ;  I  do  not  know 
whence  he  came.  At  that  time  I  was  in  correspondence 
with  Calvin ;  he  addressed  me  as  Servetus  on  account  of 
the  similarity  of  our  views,  and  after  that  I  assumed  the 
character  of  Servetus."  f 

After  this  exhibition  of  himself  severer  measures  were 
undertaken  against  him.  He  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  ; 
but  was  aided  apparently  by  the  jailor  and  other  friends  to 
escape.  His  whereabouts  between  this  date,  April  5,  1553, 
and  July,  1553,  are  unknown.  Meanwhile,  on  the  17th  of 
June,  his  Roman  Catholic  judges  had  condemned  him  to  be 
"burnt  alive  over  a  slow  fire  at  the  place  of  public  execu- 
tion, so  that  his  body  should  be  reduced  to  cinders  as  well 
as  his  books." 

On  the  17th  of  July  Servetus  took  up  his  abode  in  a  little 
hostelrie  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  in  Geneva,  where  he 
lingered  for  twenty-seven  days.  To  his  host,  whose  curi- 
osity was  greatly  excited  about  him,  he  replied,  "No"  [I 
am  not  married].  "There  are  plenty  of  women  in  the 
world  without  marrying."     It  seems  probable  that  he  had 

*  Quoted  in  Guizot :    St.  Louis  and  John  Calvin,  pp.  307,  308, 
from  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  1848,  1,822. 
t  Henry :  Life  of  Calvin,  pp.  189,  190. 


84  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation, 

come  to  Geneva  relying  on  the  aid  of  the  Libertines,  who 
were  just  at  this  time  gathering  themselves  for  another 
struggle  with  Calvin;  but  John  Calvin  was  more  than  a 
match  for  both.  He  requested  one  of  the  syndics  to  arrest 
Servetus,  and  accordingly  this  was  done  on  the  13th  of 
August,  1553.  He  provided  a  formal  prosecutor.  In  a 
letter  to  Sulzer,  dated  8th  September,  1553,  Calvin  says, 
"For  I  do  not  disguise  it,  that  I  considered  it  my  duty  to 
put  a  check,  so  far  as  I  could,  upon  this  most  obstinate  and 
ungovernable  man,  that  his  contagion  might  not  spread 
further."  *  The  first  examination  of  Servetus  took  place 
on  the  15th  of  August;  thence  the  trial  dragged  its  slow 
length  along  for  two  months.  The  Little  Council,  which 
was  the  chief  legislative  and  judicial  organ  of  the  little 
republic,  before  which  the  trial  took  place,  was  soon  con- 
vinced of  the  substantial  correctness  of  Calvin's  charges. 
Calvin  had  really  become  the  prosecutor  after  the  opening 
of  the  trial ;  but  such  Libertines  as  were  members  of  the 
council  did  what  they  could  to  stay  proceedings.  On  the 
19th  of  September  the  council  determined  to  apply  officially 
to  the  pastors  and  magistrates  of  the  four  cantons  of  Bern, 
Zurich,  Schaflfhausen  and  Basle  for  their  opinion  of  the 
trial.  On  the  i8th  of  October  their  messengers  returned, 
bringing  the  answers.  While  cautious,  guarded  and  sor- 
rowful in  tone,  they  were  unanimous  in  recommending 
severity  in  dealing  with  the  accused. 

At  length,  on  the  26th  of  October,  the  council  passed  a 
resolution  condemning  him  to  be  burnt  alive  for  his  great 
errors  and  blasphemies. 

During  the  trial  Calvin  had  shown  great  sternness  and 
horror  of  Servetus'  views  and  character ;  but  in  vitupera- 
tive denunciation  he  was  far  surpassed  by  Servetus.  He 
had  never  concealed  his  feelings  that  the  penalty  ought  to 
be  capital,  but  he  used  all  his  endeavors  to  change  the 
manner  of  death  from  burning  to  some  milder  form. 

*  Calvin's  Letters,  Vol.  II.,  p.  428. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  85 

When  brought  together  by  the  intervention  of  Farel  just 
prior  to  the  execution,  Servetus  begged  Calvin's  pardon. 
Calvin  protested  that  he  had  never  carried  any  private  ani- 
mosity toward  him,  and  reminded  Servetus  of  his  efforts  to 
win  him  to  the  truth.  Calvin  appears  to  us  cold  in  this 
interview ;  but  he  had  been  cruelly  abused,  and  entered  on 
the  conversation  without  hope  of  accomplishing  any  real 
good.    He  regarded  Servetus  as  a  hopeless  heretic. 

Calvin  has  been  severely  blamed  for  the  death  of  Serve- 
tus, and  he  is  blameworthy  in  connection  with  that  matter, 
but  not  as  much  as  he  is  often  made  out  to  be. 

He  is  blameworthy  for  holding  that  the  state  ought  to 
hold  Jesus  Christ  as  its  head,  profess  his  religion  and  vindi- 
cate both  tables  of  the  Decalogue.  He  was  not  blame- 
worthy for  holding  that  Servetus  was  a  profane  and  im- 
pious heretic  and  worthy  of  extreme  punishment  had  the 
republic  been  legitimately  theocratic.  His  union  of  church 
and  state  drove  him  logically  to  persecution,  as  such  union 
must  always  logically  do.  He  had  a  wrong  creed  as  to 
proper  relation  of  church  and  state  and  conscientiously 
acted  up  to  it.  He  believed  that  the  state  ought  to  vindicate 
the  first  table  of  the  Decalogue,  and  under  his  inspiration 
Geneva  vindicated  it.  It  is  often  alleged,  too,  that  such 
conduct  toward  Servetus  is  in  direct  conflict  with  the  Pro- 
testant principle,  the  right  of  private  judgment. 

But  (i)  the  right  of  private  judgment  is  not  a  right  of 
license  in  overt  profanity  and  impiety  to  the  Creator  and 
moral  Governor  of  the  universe.  (2)  The  blame  which  at- 
taches to  Calvin  for  not  having  seen  that  God  has  never 
given  any  state,  but  that  of  ancient  Israel,  the  right  to  pro- 
fess his  worship  as  the  Redeemer  God  and  vindicate  the 
first  table  of  the  Decalogue,  attaches  equally  to  all  Chris- 
tendom of  his  day.  Roman  Catholics,  Lutherans,  Angli- 
cans, German  and  Swiss  Reformed,  all  held  the  propriety 
of  State  religion  and  persecution  of  heretics.  Thousands 
were  put  to  death  in  his  life-time  by  Protestants  and  Roman 
Catholics  whose  lives  were  unexceptionable,  simply  because 


86  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

they  were  Lutherans,  Reformed,  or  Papists,  as  the  case 
might  be.  Melanchthon,  Martin  Bucer,  the  Swiss  reform- 
ers, without  exception,  Hving  at  the  time,  and  Cranmer 
approved  of  the  execution  of  Servetus,  and  many  of  them 
in  so  many  words. 

The  only  dissentient  voices  heard  in  the  age  were  those 
of  a  few  free  thinkers,  whom  fellow-feehng  made  wondrous 
kind.  Toleration  and  liberty  of  religious  belief  came  only 
after  long  ages  of  persecution  and  after  persecution  was 
seen  to  be  utterly  impotent  to  accomplish  its  end.  Tolera- 
tion and  liberty  of  belief  were  involved  in  the  Reformation ; 
but  the  germ  developed  slowly.  The  world  had  been  so 
long  used  to  union  of  church  and  state. 

Now,  are  we  to  blame  Calvin,  who  saw  so  much  of  truth, 
above  all  the  world  because  he  saw  not  the  truth  on  this 
point?  Miserable  pigmies!  we  survey  the  life  of  Calvin 
in  the  light  of  the  torch  which  he  alone  held  up  and  see 
this  one  considerable  failure  of  his  and  decry  him.  He 
made  Geneva  a  city  set  on  a  hill  indeed.  Men  can  see 
clearly  in  her  light.  They  have  seen  this  relatively  small 
blotch  on  her  great  luminary ;  they  would  persuade  us  that 
this  luminary  was  a  monster  of  darkness.  Calvin  was  a 
man.  He  erred  in  this  case  as  all  the  rest  of  Christendom 
was  erring.  Doing  so,  he  was  still  the  greatest  and  best 
man  in  Christendom  on  the  day  he  did  it.  Ernest  Renan 
is  right  when  he  says  that  Calvin  succeeded  in  his  work  as 
reformer  "because  he  was  the  most  Christian  man  of  his 
age."  * 

He  did  here  what  he  thought  he  ought  to  do  for  the 
honor  of  God's  truth  and  the  safety  of  his  church. 

§  23.     Calvin's  Death. 

Calvin's  struggles  were  not  over  with  1553.  The  Liber- 
tines made  some  further,  but  feeble,  efforts  against  him. 
After  1555,  however,  he  had  peace  in  Geneva.     The  ene- 

*  Quoted  in  Bungener :   Life  of  Calvin,  p.  40. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  87 

mies  of  the  word  and  the  church  were  cowed,  if  not  anni- 
hilated. Thence  for  nine  years  he  continued  his  great 
labors.  He  wrote,  he  preached,  he  lectured,  he  attended 
the  meetings  of  the  consistory  and  of  the  Venerable  Com- 
pany of  Pastors.  He  did  this  in  spite  of  growing  maladies, 
headaches  and  dyspepsia,  gravel  and  gout,  fever  and 
asthma.  He  carried  on  his  shoulders  the  burdens  of  Re- 
formed Christendom,  even  after  his  own  physical  infirmi- 
ties had  reduced  him  to  a  state  of  the  greatest  exhaustion. 

He  preached  for  the  last  time  on  the  6th  of  February, 
1564;  he  was  carried  to  church  and  partook  of  the  com- 
munion for  the  last  time  on  the  2d  of  April ;  he  made  his 
last  will  and  testament  on  the  25th  of  April,  in  which  he 
acknowledged  his  own  unworthiness  and  his  trust  in  God's 
free  election  of  grace  and  the  abounding  merits  of  Christ ; 
he  was  visited  by  the  four  syndics  and  the  whole  Little 
Council  of  the  republic  on  the  27th  of  April,  and  addressed 
them  as  a  father,  thanking  them  for  their  devotion,  begging 
pardon  for  his  gusts  of  temper,  and  exhorting  them  to  pre- 
serve in  Geneva  the  pure  doctrine  and  government  of  the 
gospel;  he  made  a  similar  address  to  all  the  ministers  of 
Geneva  on  the  28th  and  took  an  affectionate  leave  of  them ; 
he  had  these  ministers  to  dine  in  his  house  on  the  19th  of 
May,  was  himself  carried  to  the  table,  ate  a  little  with  them 
and  tried  to  converse,  but  growing  weary  had  to  be  taken 
to  his  chamber,  leaving  with  the  words,  "This  wall  will  not 
hinder  my  being  present  with  you  in  spirit,  though  absent 
in  body."  Farel  (in  his  eightieth  year)  walked  all  the  way 
to  Geneva  from  Neuchatel  to  take  leave  of  the  man  whom 
he  had  compelled  to  work  in  Geneva,  and  whose  glorious 
career  he  had  watched  without  the  least  shadow  of  envy. 

With  the  precious  word  of  God,  which  he  had  done  so 
much  to  make  plain  to  his  own  and  all  subsequent  ages,  in 
his  heart  and  on  his  tongue,  he  died  on  the  27th  of  May, 
1564- 


88  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

§  24.     Some  of  Calvin's  Characteristics. 

1.  Physically  a  man  "all  bone  and  nerve."  He  was  of 
medium  height,  dark  complexion,  thin,  pale,  in  feeble 
health.  His  best  features  were  flaming  eyes,  a  lofty  fore- 
head, a  prominent  nose,  a  well-formed  mouth ;  but  his 
whole  face  was  finely  cut  and  indicative  of  resolution,  pene- 
tration and  intelligence. 

2.  Not  without  admiration  for  beauty  in  nature,  though 
it  is  charged  that  he  was  wanting  in  this  trait.  The  four- 
teenth chapter  of  the  first  book  of  the  "Institutes,"  on 
Creation,  is  full  of  admiration  for  the  beauty  of  the  uni- 
verse. Calvin  does  not  indeed  go  into  laudations  of  the 
Alps ;  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  one  has  to  search  far  in 
the  works  of  his  contemporaries  for  expressions  of  admira- 
tion of  these  wonders  of  Europe.  Calvin's  life  was  so  busy 
that  aesthetics  ought  to  have  been  pushed  aside.  There  was 
call  for  the  exercise  of  nobler  faculties. 

3.  He  loved  poetry  and  music,  could  compose  correctly 
at  least,  and  gave  each  its  proper  place  in  the  worship  of 
the  Reformed  Church.  Luther  is  usually  held  in  happy 
contrast  to  Calvin  as  a  poet  and  musician,  and  so  he  may 
be;  but  Calvin  had  real  and  just  appreciation  of  these  arts. 

4.  Calvin  was  a  man  of  warm  and  intense  afifections, 
though  reserved.  He  is  often  misjudged  as  cold  and  un- 
emotional, as  an  intellectual,  logical  machine.  This  is  far 
from  true.  The  history  of  his  domestic  life  and  his  cor- 
respondence with  Melanchthon,  Viret,  Farel  and  many 
others  prove  this  grossly  unjust.  His  friendships  were 
intense,  his  affections  passionate.  His  onerous  duties,  his 
delicate  health,  his  reserve  of  temperament  modified  the 
expressions  of  his  regards ;  but  he  felt  intensely.  His 
feelings  were  one  of  the  big  parts  of  him. 

5.  A  man  of  the  greatest  courage.  He  tells  us  that  he 
was  constitutionally  timid.  So  he  seems  to  have  been ;  but 
his  courage  always  rose  with  the  occasion.  In  the  presence 
of  the  greatest  dangers  his  very  daring  annihilated  danger. 

6.  He  was  a  man  of  iron  will.    He  was  always  resolute. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  89 

In  exile  or  the  honored  moral  head  of  Geneva  alike  this 
resolution  was  one  of  his  marked  traits.  This  explains  his 
courage.  That  was  never  insensibility  to  danger.  It  was 
the  resolute  doing  of  what  he  thought  he  ought  in  spite  of 
the  clearest  perception  of  danger. 

7.  He  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  intellectual  powers — 
accute  observation,  retentive  memory,  constructive  imagi- 
nation, great  elaborative  power,  the  logical  faculty  of  an 
Aristotle.  He  has  been  called  "the  Aristotle  of  the  Re- 
formation," "the  theologian,"  and  "the  Thomas  Aquinas 
of  the  Reformed  Church,"  in  consideration  of  his  powers 
and  achievements.  We  are  amazed  at  his  clearness  and 
profundity. 

Passing  now  to  his  qualities  as  a  Christian — 

8.  The  fear — reverent  and  holy,  not  craven  fear — of  God 
and  zeal  for  his  glory  was  the  dominant  characteristic  of 
his  life.  He  felt  that  he  belonged  to  God ;  that  God  had 
put  him  into  this  world  to  glorify  himself  in  him,  and  that 
God  would  at  once  graciously  help  him  meet  his  responsi- 
bilities and  hold  him  to  account.  His  business  was  to 
glorify  God.  In  the  preface  to  the  last  edition  of  his  "In- 
stitutes" he  writes,  "I  have  the  testimony  of  my  own  con- 
science. .  .  .  that  since  I  undertook  the  office  of  teacher 
I  have  had  no  other  object  in  view  than  to  profit  the  church 
by  maintaining  the  pure  doctrine  of  godliness."  Hence  the 
"majesty  of  his  character,"  of  which  the  Genevese  spoke 
and  by  which  they  were  so  much  impressed.  He  was  de- 
voted to  God  and  conscious  of  it. 

His  life  was  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  No  man  cared  less 
for  the  things  of  this  life.  No  man  had  his  affections  more 
set  on  things  above.  He  loved  and  practiced  apostolic 
poverty.  He  could  say  with  Paul,  "We  are  poor,  but  make 
many  rich." 

9.  He  was  a  good  hater  of  things  evil.  He  is  sometimes 
charged  with  having  been  passionate,  censorious  and  im- 
patient of  contradictions,  and  perhaps  with  a  degree  of 
justice ;  but  his  passion  was  usually  directed  against  moral 


90  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

folly,  against  wickedness,  and  so  his  censoriousness  and 
impatience  of  contradiction — not  against  mere  stupidity. 
Indeed,  he  was  remarkable  for  his  patience  and  kindly 
Christian  spirit  in  dealing  with  those  who  were  weak 
rather  than  wicked.  If  he  was  sometimes  impatient  of 
contradiction,  it  is  pertinent  to  observe  that  the  eagle  might 
be  impatient  of  a  snail's  attempt  to  instruct  him  how  to 
fly.  Some  men  have  no  right  to  expect  a  patient  hearing 
of  their  opinions.  They  have  not  thought  enough,  maybe 
from  lack  of  diligence  or  opportunity,  maybe  from  lack  of 
capacity. 

10.  Calvin  was  intolerant  of  error.  So  every  man  should 
be,  and  that,  too,  whether  the  error  be  one  of  theory  or 
practice ;  for  theory  soon  expresses  itself  in  life.  We 
ought  to  be  as  intolerant  of  error  as  Calvin  was ;  but  we 
ought  not  to  use  some  weapons  against  it  which  Calvin, 
under  the  influence  of  the  spirit  of  his  age,  used. 

11.  He  was  a  man  of  catholic  spirit.  Lutherans,  Angli- 
cans and  Polish  Protestants  were  all  really  Christians  to 
him.  Presbyterians  of  to-day  are  remarkable  for  catho- 
licity of  spirit.  They  get  it  legitimately.  Calvin  was  a  big, 
broad  man — bigger  than  Luther.  He  undervalued  no 
truth,  but  he  could  make  the  distinction  between  essential 
truths  and  truths  of  less  importance. 

12.  Calvin  was  the  most  father-like  man  of  the  Reforma- 
tion period  in  his  attitude  toward  Christendom.  The 
mighty  and  splendid  Luther  was  a  big,  warlike  elder 
brother,  bragging  gloriously  ever  of  what  he  was  ever 
gloriously  doing.  Listen  to  him  as  he  begins  his  will,  "I 
am  well  known  in  heaven,  on  earth  and  in  hell,"  and  as  he 
closes  it,  "This  wrote  the  notary  of  God  and  the  witness  of 
his  gospel,  Dr.  Martin  Luther."  Calvin,  though  later  born, 
comes  into  the  place  of  earthly  father  to  all  Protestant 
Christendom ;  he  thinks  for  it,  toils  for  it,  comforts  it, 
carries  it  through  dangers,  fights  for  it,  but  says  Httle  of 
his  labors  except  when  attacked.  He  was  the  Paul — he,  not 
Luther — of  the  Reformation  period.  John  Calvin  seems 
to  have  been  the  most  Christlike  man  of  his  age. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Influence  of  John  Calvin. 

§  25.     Not  Perpetuated  by  Imposing  Tomb. 

"So  Moses  the  servant  of  the  Lord  died  there  in  the  land 
of  Moab,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord ;  and  he  buried 
him  in  a  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab,  over  against  Beth-peor : 
but  no  man  knoweth  of  his  sepulchre  unto  this  day."  Ac- 
cording to  Calvin's  injunction,  that  everything  should  be 
done  "after  the  customary  fashion,  the  earth  alone  covered 
his  remains,  and  the  only  official  epitaph  he  received  was 
that  inscribed  beside  his  name  in  the  consistorial  register, 
"Went  to  God,  Saturday  the  27th."  How  long  his  dust 
was  left  undisturbed  no  man  can  say;  but  his  grave  has 
been  dug  over  again  and  again  for  more  than  two  centuries. 
Toward  the  middle  of  our  century  a  small  black  stone  was 
set  to  mark  the  place  where  his  remains  were  supposed  to 
have  been  laid ;  but  there  is  no  certainty  that  the  spot  has 
been  correctly  identified. 

"Strangers,"  says  Bungener,  "  have  been  seen  who  are 
indignant  at  that  small  stone ;  but  others  contemplate  it 
with  more  emotion  than  would  have  been  called  forth  by  a 
splendid  mausoleum,  even  though  it  unquestionably  pointed 
out  the  spot.  Such  an  abandonment  of  the  perishable  being 
brings  you  face  to  face  with  the  thinking,  living,  immortal 
being  in  another  world — already  immortal  on  earth  by  the 
profound  and  ineffaceable  traces  which  God  has  given  him 
to  leave  upon  it.  You  contemplate  him  in  his  work;  you 
follow  him  through  three  centuries  which  have  seen  him  so 
mighty  over  so  many  souls,  even  of  those  who  have  been 
trained  to  hate  him ;  and  there  you  understand  how  the  city 
created  in  his  image  should  have  felt  no  more  than  he  did 
the  need  of  marking  out  his  last  resting  place.    .    .    .    Cal- 


92  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

vin  was  going  to  carry  on,  when  absent  in  the  body,  that 
reign  which  his  genius  and  faith  had  founded.  Thus 
thought  the  Genevese  and  all  those  who  already  peopled  his 
vast  empire  and  all  those  who  were  yet  to  people  it,  and 
death  in  causing  the  man  to  disappear  did  but  exalt  the 
reformer."  * 

Calvin  had  his  only  worthy  monument  in  his  works, 
which  speak  of  a  candor  and  manly  honesty  which  never 
evaded  a  difficulty,  and  which  revealed  a  clearness,  a  thor- 
oughness and  a  conciseness  without  a  parallel,  in  those 
immortar'Institutes"and  in  those  commentaries,  in  what  he 
had  taught  and  the  church  which  he  had  fashioned.  We 
can  name  no  other  man  since  the  apostles  who  has  ex- 
erted so  great  and  beneficent  an  influence  on  history,  and 
that  in  so  many  directions.  He  has  specially  helped  educa- 
tion, politics,  religion  and  family  life.  We  will  illustrate  by  a 
brief  consideration  of  one  or  two  of  these  lines  of  influence. 

§  26.     His  Influence  on  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty. 

We  shall  not  point  to  the  historical  proofs  of  this  influ- 
ence. The  most  respectable  writers  on  modern  history, 
irrespective  of  their  schools,  teach  us  that  Calvin's  influ- 
ence on  civil  and  religious  liberty  has  been  vast.  They  tell 
us  particularly  that  the  civil  and  religious  liberty  of  the 
Dutch,  the  British  and  the  North  Americans  of  to-day  is 
the  fruitage  of  Calvinistic  teaching;  and  they  trace  these 
channels  of  influence  in  no  uncertain  way.  We  propose 
here  to  indicate  merely  how  Calvinistic  teaching  must  beget 
the  spirit  of  liberty  both  civil  and  religious. 

Calvin's  form  of  church  government  was  the  purest, 
manliest,  noblest  type  of  church  government  on  earth.  It 
was  a  high  type  of  representative  government.  It  could 
not  fail  to  suggest  the  right  of  suffrage  in  those  citizens 
of  civil  governments  who  were  possessed  of  the  proper 
character  and  intelligence,  and  the  rule  of  the  state  only  by 
officers  so  chosen  by  the  free  voices  of  the  citizens.    As  it 

*  Life  of  Calvin,  pp.  348,  349. 


Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation.  93 

suggested  this  as  to  the  government  of  state,  so  by  con- 
trast with  other  forms  of  ecclesiastical  government  it  stim- 
ulated liberty  in  churches. 

But  certain  of  Calvin's  theological  and  anthropological 
teaching  in  a  still  more  powerful  way  stimulated  the  spirit 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  particularly  his  doctrines  of 
the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the  responsibility  of  man.  Cal- 
vin represented  truly  the  sovereignty  of  God  as  absolute. 
When  God  commands  a  certain  thing  and  any  other  being 
bids  another  thing,  a  man  must  do  what  God  commands. 
In  the  first  Confession  of  the  Genevese,  prepared  by  Farel 
and  Calvin,  man's  duties  toward  the  state  are  defined.  We 
are  there  taught  that  the  citizen  must  obey  all  decrees  and 
statutes,  except  those  zvhich  contravene  the  commandments 
of  God.  Look  toward  that  city  set  on  a  hill,  all  tyrants, 
whether  kinglings,  democracies,  plutocracies  or  hierarchies. 
For  there  men  believe  that  God  is  of  right  the  one  absolute 
sovereign.  Therefore,  be  careful  in  what  direction  you  ex- 
ercise your  powers.  Order  these  men  and  their  disciples  to 
do  something  contrary  to  the  word  of  God.  They  will 
defy  you.  Ye  Spanish  tyrants  in  the  Netherlands,  ye  Stu- 
arts, strutting  about  the  divine  right  of  kings,  and  all  your 
like,  look  sharp.  Your  sovereignty  at  best  is  only  a  very 
relative  thing,  as  the  Calvinists  see  things.  God  is  their 
sovereign  absolute,  they  know ;  and  they  know  he  will  hold 
them  responsible  for  obedience  to  him,  whatever  you  bid 
and  however  you  threaten.  Make  war  on  their  duty  as 
defined  by  God  in  his  word,  imprison,  burn,  bury  alive,  you 
cannot  hold  the  allegiance  of  those  Calvinists.  They  know 
they  are  God's  in  right  and  fact.  Aye,  they  know  that  they 
are  kings  in  virtue  of  the  divine  birthright,  priests  by  the 
imposition  of  the  noblest  hand — chosen  of  God,  born  of 
God,  heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  with  Jesus  Christ. 

Such  truths  breed  liberty. 

§  27.  The  Conseri'ing  Poiver  of  Calvinism  in  Protes- 
tant Church  Life. 

The  earlier  reformers  burst  the  shackles  of  Romanism 


94  Calvin  and  the  Genevan  Reformation. 

and  taught  some  glorious  truths  with  great  clearness.  Cal- 
vin rounded  out  their  teaching,  gave  it  systematic  form 
and  permanence.  It  may  be  seriously  doubted  whether 
Protestantism  would  have  been  more  than  a  temporary 
phase  in  the  history  of  Western  Christendom  without  John 
Calvin's  work.  He  built  up  for  it  an  impregnable  fortress 
of  truth  in  his  "Institutes"  and  commentaries,  and  by  his 
discipline  moulded  the  life  by  the  application  thereto  of 
the  power  of  God. 

The  Calvinistic  churches  in  the  world  to-day  remain,  as 
Calvin  was,  the  great  expounders  of  the  gospel  to  the  world 
by  word  and  life,  and  the  steadying  power  for  all  Protes- 
tant Christendom,  without  which  the  rest  of  Protestantism 
could  not  do  its  work.  They  have  been  the  teachers  and, 
within  certain  limits,  the  guides  and  the  support  of  the 
whole  Protestant  world. 

§  28.     The  Conclusion. 

My  fellow-students  for  the  gospel  ministry  in  Union 
Seminary,  this  rough  sketch  of  the  Genevan  Reformation 
and  its  great  leader  has  been  set  before  you  not  simply  with 
the  hope  of  informing  your  minds.  We  have  hoped  that 
by  dwelling  on  the  character  of  Calvin  as  God  made  him 
you  might  be  led  to  follow  him  as  he  followed  Christ ; 
that  you  might  catch  something  of  his  great  spirit,  might 
come  to  honor  God's  word  as  he  honored  it  and  toil  for 
God's  church  as  he  toiled  for  it,  come  to  fear  God  and  him 
alone  as  he  feared  God ;  might  be  led,  by  the  example  of  his 
assiduity  in  the  years  of  preparation  for  his  great  work,  to 
cultivate  the  same  spirit  of  devotion  now  and  here  in  your- 
selves. 

I  warn  you  that  the  truth  about  such  a  man  as  Calvin 
cannot  be  brought  to  your  attention  without  your  thereby 
becoming  responsible  for  it.  You  are  under  a  moral  obli- 
gation to  use  his  great  example  as  a  means  for  your  own 
spiritual  as  well  as  intellectual  growth. 


INDEX. 


Ameaux,  58. 

Anathema,  54. 

Angouleme,  20. 

Anselm,  26. 

Aosti,  28. 

Aquinas,  Thomas,  26,  89. 

Aristotle,  89. 

Augustine,  25,  27. 

Baume,  Pierre  de  la,  29. 

Beaumont,  Abbe  de,  30. 

Bern  :   Adopted  Reformation,  30  ; 

customs    of,    in    Geneva,    36 ; 

influence    of,    in    Geneva,    36, 

Z7>  45- 

Berthelier,  29,  30,  58,  60,  61. 

Beza,  7,  15,  34,  47. 

Blandatra,  66. 

Bolsec,  50,  55,  63,  66. 

Bonivard,  Frangois,  29. 

Bucer,  21,  yj^  77,  79.  86. 

Bullinger,  66. 

Bungener,  Felix,  quoted  or  re- 
fererd  to,  8,  16.  17,  63,  64,  65, 
86,  91,  92. 

Bure,  Idelette  de,  41 ;  her  char- 
acter, 41,  42;  her  death  and  its 
consequences  to  Calvin,  62,  64. 

Calvin,  John,  divisions  of  his 
life,  11;  relation  to  the  Refor- 
mation, II,  12;  birth  and  pa- 
rentage, 13,  14;  education  with 
family  of  Mommor  and  at  va- 
rious colleges  and  universities, 
14,  15,  16;  conversion,  15,  16; 
first  literary  venture,  16,  17; 
determination  to  the  service  of 
Christianity,  17,  18;  break 
with  Rome,  19;  wandering 
evangelist  in  France,  19,  21  ; 
produces  institutes,  21-28; 
Calvinistic    theology,    biblical. 


Calvin,  John. 

22;  improved  Augustinianism, 
25;  Calvinism  broad,  27;  Cal- 
vin in  Italy  and  France  under 
the  name  d'Espeville,  28,  29; 
first  period  in  Geneva,  33-37 ; 
practical  ends  in  view  at  this 
time,  36 ;  exile  from  Geneva, 
2,7;  call  to  and  residence  in 
Strasburg,  37-46;  professor  of 
theology  there  and  pastor  of 
Church  of  the  Strangers,  38; 
view  of  discipline,  38;  at  col- 
loquies of  Frankfort,  Worms, 
and  Regensberg,  39 ;  friend- 
ships formed  at  this  time,  39, 
40 ;  courtship  and  marriage, 
41,  fif. ;  view  of  a  wife,  40,  41; 
answer  to  Sadolets'  letter,  44. 
45 ;  recalled  to  Geneva,  46 ; 
his  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
labors,  i54i-'49.  47,  48;  church 
polity  established,  48,  fif. ;  dis- 
tinctive principles  of  his 
church  polity,  49,  ff. ;  struggle 
with  the  Patriots  and  Liber- 
tines for  discipline,  57,  fif.  r 
looses  his  wife,  62,  63,  64; 
labors  and  achievements,  1549- 
1564,  64-66;  writes  Consensus 
Tigurinus,  or  Zurich  Confes- 
sion, 66,  flf. ;  controversy  witlr 
Servetus,  78,  ff. ;  blame  in  con- 
nection with  the  death  of  Ser- 
vetus, 84,  ff. ;  death  of,  86,  ff. ; 
characteristics,  88,  ff.  ;  influ- 
ence, how  perpetuated,  91,  92; 
his  influence  on  civil  and  re- 
ligious liberty,  92,  93  ;  conserv- 
ing power  of  Calvinism,  93,. 
94- 


96 


Index. 


Calvinism,  of  John  Calvin,  ele- 
ments of,  25-27;  relation  to 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  92, 
9.^ ;  conserving  power  of,  93, 
94- 

Capito,  79. 

Caroli,  35. 

Cauvin,  Gerard  father  of  John 
Cauvin,  or  Calvin,  his  charac- 
ter, 13  ;  death,   16. 

Charles  III.,  Duke  of  Savoy,  29. 

Charles  V.,  Emperor,  29,  79. 

Church  and  State,  Calvin's  view 
of  proper  relations  of,  49,   50. 

Clubs,  established  by  Calvin,  47. 

Confession,  the  Zurich,  66. 

Confession  of  Faith,  Calvin  and 
Farel's,  34. 

Consensus  Tigtiriims,  26,  66,  67, 
69,  ff.  ;  exposition  of,  67,  ff. 

Consistory  of  Geneva,  54,  ff. 

Corault,  35,  36,  37. 

Corderius,  Maturinus,   14. 

Dabney,  R.  L.,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  27, 
67. 

Dentistry,    approved    by    Calvin, 

.65-. 

Discipline,  Calvin's  view  of  ec- 
clesiastical, 50-54;  degrees  of, 
52 ;  ends  of,  52-53  ;  spirit  with 
which  to  be  administered,  ac- 
cording to  Calvin,  54,  ff. 

Edward  VI.,  of  England,  65. 

Espeville,  de,  28,  29. 

Excommunicated,  how  to  be 
dealt  with,  53. 

Excommunication,   52. 

Exposition,  of  Scripture,  Cal- 
vin's idea  of,  33. 

Farel,  William,  instituter  of 
Genevan  Reformation,  12,  30- 
32;  character  of,  30,  31;  at 
conference  of  Lausanne,  34 ; 
at  work  with  Calvin  in  Gen- 
■eva,  33-37 ;  exile  of,  38 ;  called 
to  Neuchatel,  37 ;  letter  to,  40 ; 
at  Zurich  in  1549,  66;  efforts 
in  behalf  of  Servetus,  85; 
sees   Calvin   for  last   time,   87. 

Fabri,  58. 

Francis  I.  of  France,  16,  29,  69. 

Furbity,  31. 


Geneva,  character  of  people  of. 
at  beginning  of  Reformation, 
36;  condition  of  in  1539,  45; 
recalls  Calvin,  45,  46. 

Gentiles,  63,  66. 

Gribaldi,  Matthaeus,  66. 

Gruet,  50,  55. 

Guise,  Duke  de,  28. 

Guizot,  M.,  quoted  or  referred 
to,  8,  16,  18,  24,  32,  48,  49,  60, 
61,  62,  80,  83. 

Henry,  Paul,  D.  D.,  quoted  or 
referred  to,  7,  8,  16,  34,  41,  42, 
55,  81,  83. 

Hesshus,  66. 

Hughues,  Besangon,  29. 

Institutes,  production  of,  and 
character  of,  21,  ff. ;  aim  of, 
21,  22;  editions  of,  24,  39;  ele- 
ments of  teaching  in,  25,  ff. ; 
quoted,  28,  52,  53,  54,  56,  64. 

Laufranc,  Jeanne,  wife  of  Gerard 
Cauvin,  mother  of  John  Cal- 
vin,   13. 

Lausanne,  conference  of,  34. 

Le  Febre  d'Etaples,  20,  30. 

Leo  X.,  12. 

Libertines,  58,  62,  82. 

Liberty,    civil   and   religious,   92, 

93- 

Liturgy,  Calvin's,  38. 

Lord's  Supper,  Calvin's  view  of, 
66-78 ;  same  in  "Institutes" 
and  Consensus  Tigurinus,  77, 
78 ;  Zwingli's  view,  69. 

Louis,  XII.,  28. 

Luther,  17,  26,  66,  88,  90. 

Margaret,  of  Angauleme,  19,  20. 

Melancthon,  17,  19,  86,  88. 

Moses,  91. 

Oecolampadius,  76,  79. 

Olivet,  Peter  Robert,  15,  20. 

Pantheism,  Calvin  repudiates  in 
connection  with  doctrine  of  the 
Mystical  Union,  67,  ff. ; 

Parliament  of  Paris,  19,  80. 

Patriots,  the,  58. 

Paul,  90. 

Perrin,  58. 

Polity,  distinctive  principles  of 
Calvin's  Church,  49,  ff. 

Quintana,  79. 


Index. 


97 


Reformation,  Genevan,  origin 
of,  12 ;  conduct  of  prior  to 
Calvin's  coming,  29-32. 

Renee,  Duchess  of  Ferrara,  28. 

Rilliet,  quoted,  78. 

Ruling  eldership,  56,  57. 

Sadolet,  letter  of,  39;  his  char- 
acter and  effort  with  the  Gen- 
evese,  43,  ff. 

Saul  of  Tarsus,  17. 

Schaff,  Philip,  quoted  or  referred 
to,  10,  14,  24,  26,  29,  30,  38, 
45,  46,  48,  55.  57,  67,  78. 

Seneca,  Calvin's  commentary  on 
"Clemency  by,"  16. 

Servetus,  Michael,  20,  50,  55,  63. 
66;  life  of,  79,  ff. 

Sleep  of  the  Soul,  20. 

Somerset,   65. 

Sorbonne,  19. 

Spiritualists  of  Geneva,  58,  59. 

Stahelin,  39,  80. 

State,  church  and  State,  Cal- 
vin's view  of  proper  relation, 
49,  50. 

Stella,  Petrus,  15. 


Stephens,  Robert,  65. 

Storder,  John,  41. 

Theology,  biblical,  23 ;  Calvinis- 
tic,  23,  ff. 

Tillet,  Louis  du,  20,  21. 

Toleration,  religious,  how  re- 
lated to  Reformation,  86. 

Transfusion  of  substance,  in 
Lord's  Supper,  rejected  by 
Calvin,  67,  68. 

Trie.  William  de,  82,  83. 

Union,  of  believers  to  Christ,  or 
"mystical,"  67. 

Union,  of  Church  and  State,  Cal- 
vin's view  of,  49,  50- 

University  of  Paris,  19. 

Vandel,  58. 

Venerable  comnany,  the,   55,  58. 

Viret,  30,  41,  46,  81,  86. 

Westphal,  66. 

Wolmar,   Melchior,   15. 

Zurich,  Confession  of,  69,  ff. ;  in- 
effectual interference  in  be- 
half of  Calvin  and  Farel,  37. 

Zwinglians,  66,  68,  69,  76. 

Zwingli,  17,  69,  79. 


